


Baby It's Cold Outside

by MariiTheRedGirl



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Canon? Don't Know Her, Comic Elements, Dr. Octopus is causing problems, F/M, Iron Dad, MJ doesn't know Peter is Spider-Man, MJ is Black Cat, Morgan is a smartass, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Ned and Betty are the cutest puppies ever, No beta. We die like men in this house, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Spider-Man, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Peter doesn't know MJ is Black Cat, Prowler is causing problems, Rhino is causing problems, Spideychelle Promptmas 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28081644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariiTheRedGirl/pseuds/MariiTheRedGirl
Summary: 12 days of promptmas where Peter is having fun being Spider-Man until too many bad guys are around and a certain Cat tries to kiddnap Ned in the middle of a fight (or something like that) and all he can think about is "how is he going to pretend to have a relationship with MJ on that Stark party on Christmas break?"
Relationships: Betty Brant & Ned Leeds, Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), spideychelle - Relationship
Comments: 12
Kudos: 17
Collections: Twelve Days of Promptmas





	1. Beautiful what's your hurry?

**Author's Note:**

> First day of Promptmas. There was a lovely list of concepts and dialogues and the idea was to maybe make a different one shot every day with whatever you wanted on that list but it was too easy, so I decided to take it to the next level. So I took a huge concept and then in every chapter you will find out the concepts and dialogues I picked for every chapter.  
> I'm terribly excited and proud of this fic so I hope you have as much fun reading as I had writing it. You will find short chapters and others... not so short, they are hell long (sorry, not sorry). Done with the blablabla and have fun in this 12 Days of Promptmas  
> Remember that every chapter's concept will influence the big plot ;)

**Concept  
43\. Roommates** **  
2\. Shopping**

**Dialogue  
56\. "Do you wanna built a snowman?"** **  
46\. "You do know that Santa's not real, right?"**

* * *

  
_December 18 th \- One week before Christmas_  
  
Peter and MJ have been living together for two years now. They decided it was the best way to not be totally broke because of their attempt to live in NYC while college and being close to their families in Queens. And the best way for Peter to be Spider-Man and be close to the Avengers facilities without anyone knowing, including MJ. Peter didn't knew how he have managed to keep his identity hidden while living with MJ but it was good, she wasn't in danger if she didn't know about his superhero thing.  
  
Peter and MJ had strict rules about their privacy and that made everything easier. They never went to the others bedrooms for anything, at least one of them was sick and that wasn't happening frequently. So basically Peter charged his IronSpider suit without worrying about MJ finding it and probably friking out and his three different suits were on the closet or under his bed totally save. MJ had her own secrets and he wasn't the right person to sneak a peek inside her room to find out, so he respected her room, privacy and secrets as much as she respected his.  
  
Morgan has called on a Thursday claiming that she needed to spend time with his big brother on Christmas break or she will take him out of work from The Bugle on some fake news that Spider-Man was around a shopping mall she wanted to visit. The ten year old was very persistent, just like her parents. Of course he said yes, he wanted to take some pictures of Manhattan while you can still walk around Central Park, also, some early shopping for Christmas was too perfect to reject.  
  
Morgan arrived to MJ and Peter's apartment early in the morning and took a second quick breakfast with her brother and MJ.  
  
\---------

  
"So, Morgan! How's school going?" MJ was familiar now with the little girl and wasn't surprised of Peter's contacts with the Stark. What she never understood was how Peter ended up working for J. Jonah Jameson and not in Stark Industries, maybe his passion for photography was bigger than his love for chemistry and labs.  
  
"Pretty good, actually! I'm looking forward to High school, looks exciting" oh poor innocent soul. But she wasn't going to break her little bubble of happiness, definitely not on the holidays!  
  
"You're getting old Morgan! High school? That's big!" Peter was always cheering Morgan, no matter what. He was such a good old brother  
  
"Then you are even more old because you are in college and you have a job, too" Morgan said with her mouth full of pancakes, that MJ was pretty sure Pepper will not approve.  
  
"MJ! You are gonna let her treat us like grannies because we have a job?" Peter always tried to get MJ involved in his conversations but she still had that little observant in her from High school  
  
"Well, if we are that old then we can't go shopping today. What if we get a cold? That would be terrible for this two old people" that was the plan, shopping with Morgan but MJ had another plan for her visit to Manhattan, but they didn't need that information  
  
"noooo!!!! We have to go shopping! My dad gave me lots of money to spend on everyone’s present! I want to buy something nice for Uncle Happy and Aunt May, for mom and dad and of course for you both! Even for Ned and Betty!" yes, that was their little group now. How on earth Peter was able to keep such a strong relationship with the Starks and his security head, after two years working for their labs, was still a mystery. Well, it wasn't hard to get attached to the Parkers and with Peter always came Ned and now Betty.  
  
"Ok Morgan! Then let's go. If we are in Manhattan as soon as the shops are open we will get good presents for everyone" the little girl took her plate when the pancakes were to the kitchen and run to get her coat, scarf and gloves for the cold.  
  
"How much money do you think she actually has, Parker?"  
  
"She is ten, so maybe not much. But she is a Stark so maybe a couple hundred? Who knows? I'm gonna text Pepper just to check, if I text Tony he will probably encourage her to buy the whole shopping mall" Peter walked to his room while Morgan returned from the living room and started jumping in front on MJ to show her that she was ready to go  
  
"Ok, we will go in a few. Can you go to your brother's room for a bit while I look for my things?"  
  
"Yeap! Don't take long, MJ!"  
  
"Don't worry. I will be fast. Promise!" MJ walked to her room and locked the door. She needed to change something from her outfit without Peter and Morgan knowing. That will bring lots of questions that she wasn't ready to answer, especially to Peter. She took her bag with all the things she needed for the day and checked twice that the leather suit under her clothes wasn't visible.  
  
"MJ is back!! We can go! Let's go Pete" Morgan was bubbling with happiness so they finally went out of the little apartment.  
  
They went down the five floors and started walking through the cold streets of New York with Morgan in between them. Each holding one of her tiny hands. The girl was talking about her school friends, her new favorite topic in class and her love for science, just like his dad. Peter and Morgan were having a lovely chat about the new tech Stark was designing while MJ was waiting for her moment to leave them for a while.  
  
"How do you know all of this, Morgan? Pepper hasn't forbid you from the labs?"  
  
"Yeah, but she stopped telling me to not go there after my tenth time sneaking into the labs."  
  
"As reasonable as your dad, I see"  
  
"And you Pete. That's why you are my brother" Peter had an easy smile on his face when he talked to Morgan. It was nice to see him so relaxed, he was extremely stressed and had been for the last year. College could be a nightmare even being a genius like Peter.  
  
"Ammm, I have to go Morgan. Would you forgive me if I go for a few minutes? I promise I will be back"  
  
"Nooo!!! Why? I can talk to you more if you want. It’s just that Peter never shuts up"  
  
"Its fine Morgan. I love hearing you both talk about nerdy things, but can I tell you a secret?" the girl’s eyes light up and she moved away a little from Peter  
  
"I'm very good at keeping secrets, MJ. You can trust me" MJ got to Morgan’s level which means she was almost on her knees.  
  
"I'm going to buy Peter's present and he can't see it because it's a surprise. Can you keep that secret?" Morgan's face showed all her excitement and started nodding furiously "Then I will text Peter when I'm done, ok?" she said the last looking at Peter to let him know she was going back with them  
  
"Ok! See you MJ!!" Morgan waved at MJ while she crossed the street to a few jewelry stores. She entered one of the stores and checked that Peter and Morgan were gone before leaving to a close ally to change into her leather suit, mask and silver wig.  
  
\------  
  
"MJ is really nice. And pretty!" if Peter never closed his mouth, Morgan was just like him, but Peter loved it  
  
"Yeah. She is really nice"  
  
"And pretty. My dad said he is a little bit afraid of her for all your stories about her in high school but I think that makes her even greater"  
  
"Well yes, she is pretty and why I never knew your dad was afraid of MJ? Now I'm gonna mock him for that"  
  
"you didn't hear it from me, Pete"  
  
"so, what where you and MJ talking about?"  
  
"No, no, it's a secret and I don't share secrets even if there are small. Like your secret, does MJ knows, by the way?"  
  
"No, she doesn't and you know that's the best thing for her so it's going to be a secret until something terrible happens like she gets in my room and I'm arriving from patrol or something like that" he didn't want to think about the possibility of MJ finding out about him being Spider-Man because patrol ended bad  
  
"How's Ned doing? Is he still your Guy in the Chair?"  
  
"Nop, he is retired. Now he has proclaimed himself as a FOS"  
  
"what's that?"  
  
"FOS as Friend of Spider-Man"  
  
"so, I'm a FOS too, right?"

"Yes, you are Morgan. That's why you have to be really careful on not speaking about Spidey outside of the labs or the facilities. Ok?"  
  
"Yeap. Got it. Don't worry about that. Mom thought me well. She talked about a few bad experiences she had because she is close to my dad and I don't want to go through any of that" Morgan was very young but very intelligent, any other kid would be screaming at the top of their lungs that their adoptive brother was a superhero just like their dad. But she knew better than that.  
  
"Hey! Look at all the snow in the park. **Do you wanna built a snowman** , Morgan?!" he was very excited about the possibility but Morgan not so much  
  
"I would love it but can we wait for MJ? I think she will enjoy it as much as we will"  
  
"Ok. Let me check my phone for any messages. Maybe she wrote me and we didn't notice" no new messages from MJ, but apparently Black Cat had stolen a few things from a store on the opposite side of Manhattan. The police was taking care of the case but the evidence wasn't much. They never had enough evidence when Black Cat was involved, she was becoming a problem in New York and Peter was going to pay more attention to the new dressed up villain, but first he needed to stop Rhino. He was the big problem, has been for the last year, appearing and disappearing every few months but each time he came back, he was stronger.  
  
"Did she say something?"  
  
"No yet. What if we go to that shopping mall, do some actual shopping and then back to that snowman?"  
  
"Yes! I want to buy some summer clothes to my dad and some beautiful heels to my mom! Maybe some kitchen utensils to Uncle Happy and more nice shoes for Aunt May! What do you think, Pete?"  
  
"I think we have lots of things to do then! Let's go before MJ is back. We need to buy her a present too" they walked to the shopping mall and got a few things for everyone. Morgan bought some shorts for Tony, with Iron Man's face on them, some really expensive heels for Pepper and May and different bakery supplies for Happy  
  
"I have Ned's present in Stark Industries. It's a new program my dad worked on that I think he will love. But don't tell him! It's a secret"  
  
"don't worry peanut, your secret it's save with me"  
  
"thanks Pete. Ok, what are we buying to MJ?"  
  
"I have an idea... But we have to go find somewhere affordable and that can sell me a very specific object. Santa can't bring that present from the North Pole for her"  
  
**"You do know that Santa's not real, right?"**  
  
"What? MORGAN! You can't say that!!"  
  
"I'm sorry Pete. Did I ruin your fantasy?"  
  
"No... But now that's a big secret you will have to keep. No one can know that Santa is not real" after Peter and Morgan went out of the store they choose for MJ's present, Peter's phone started to sound along to Jingle Bells.  
  
"Hey MJ. We done shopping here. Where are you? Do you wanna built a snowman?"  
  
"A snowman?"  
  
"Yes. Morgan wanted to wait for you to build it in the park a few block away from where we were"  
  
"Oh. Yeah. I know where, see you there in ten?"  
  
"Perfect. See you in a few"  
  
"She's coming to build the snowman?"  
  
"Yes she is"  
  
"I really like MJ, Peter"  
  
"Yeah. Me too"  
  
\-----

  
After a small walk and some time to find the best place to build the snowman, MJ, Peter and Morgan reunited and started looking for things to complete the medium sized snowballs that they managed to make. Morgan found a few stones for the eyes, MJ took a few branches for the arms and Peter was trying to find something for the nose of the snowman. After a few minutes he found a branch that wasn't to tin as the snowman's arms but it was too long. He broke the branch in the thicker part and placed it in the snowman face.  
  
"Oh Peter! The gym is actually paying! You broke that like it was a pencil!" Morgan’s face screamed at him that that action wasn’t completely normal for a regular person  
  
"Yeeaaahhh... The, the gym! Of course!" MJ was looking at him a little bit suspicious. She still managed to hide most her emotions but after living with her, Peter learned to read her more than she thought.  
  
"Well, I need to start going to the gym too then, you have been going since high school and it's finally working apparently" Peter knew MJ wasn't stupid, or blind for the matter. She has seen him without a shirt and knew about how his body has changed through the years because of his superhero thing, but for her, and everyone else... He was just going to the gym. That was the logic explanation behind his ripped body and his very useful strength. Peter tried to move away from MJ’s suspicious face while lifting Morgan from the ground.

“I think it’s quite decent. What do you think, Em?” Peter asked MJ

“I don’t look that bad, actually! Morgan, can you rate the snowman?” They were looking at the weird snowballs with the stones for eyes and several branches around his “body”

“I give it a 7 out of 10, something is missing… A SCARF!!! He’s getting cold without a scarf” Ok, Santa wasn’t real but the snowman was getting cold. Peter and MJ shared a look and started laughing, they found funny that the snowballs were cold. Peter took his scarf off from around his neck and placed it on between the top snowball and the middle one.

“There you have it! Now he is fine and won’t get a cold” Morgan looked pleased at the snowman and took MJ’s hand in her right hand and she offered her left had to Peter.

“Ok, now it’s a ten. I think we can go and wrap all this presents on the apartment. Can we Peter?” Morgan looked a little tired

“We definitely should, maybe we can have some hot drink too” MJ wrapped her bag on her shoulder without letting go of Morgan’s hand while Peter took the six different bags from around the snowman and the three of them stared to head home.


	2. I'll hold your hands (they're just like ice)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter, Morgan and MJ go home to wrap some gifts for everyone but MJ has a huge bag full of money to hide while Tony and Pepper try not to ruin the Christmas decorations at their lovely home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at summaries people! Also, every tittle is a verse from the song Baby it's Cold Outside (bless that song because I also suck at naming shit). Second day of Promptmas 2020!! Have fun reading and see you tomorrow with more of this stuipid people I love

**Concept:** **Decorating & ** **Gift wrapping**

**Dialogue:** **“Your hands are freezing” & ** **“That ornament doesn’t go there”**

* * *

Peter, MJ and Morgan arrived to the apartment after their Christmas shopping with lots of presents for everyone. The whole gang wasn't going to get together for Christmas but they will send all the gifts to their respective owner. MJ's mom wanted to see her and MJ was definitely not hyped. She wasn't going to tolerate any discussions about politics, economy or her love life choices. Those topics were forbidden with her family.  
  
MJ wasn't physically tired, emotionally... Maybe a little. She was so used to Peter and Ned, but adding the Starks was another level, they were like Peter's family. If she wasn't good at managing her own family relationships, Peter's family relationships were just as complicated to interact too. And she just hanged out with Morgan, MJ have never met Pepper or Anthony. Peter knew her opinion on Stark Industries, the "privatization on World Peace" as Tony Stark once called it and many other things with the billionaire.  
  
That's exactly why she did all she did. She wasn't stealing anything from poor defenseless people, they deserved it. And seeing so many super heroes on the news gave her an idea a few months ago, actually one superhero and one article: The Bugle's accusations on Spider-Man. Was he actually a threat? He was helping people around and saving the city from a few awful looking monsters, but is it good to take justice in your own hands? Well, that was exactly what she was doing. The leather suit, the mask and the silver wig was just to not get caught.

The idea of using a closed mask like Spider-Man gave her terrible images of getting sick, chocking and dying without anyone knowing. Not thanks. She preferred the wig that made her look like a dream and the mask that make her eyelashes more visible, she even wore contact lenses, not common contacts, they were modified to see various ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum, she was also trained in martial arts. And the leather suit was very useful to distract people when she needs it.  
  
After they went inside the apartment, Morgan, Peter and MJ took off their gloves and jackets. Peter took a small package on his hand and left it on his room and then came back to help Morgan with the million boxes she had dropped on the couch. In that moment MJ knew she had to take her bag to her room and hide a few things, some legal and other not so legal.  
  
She managed to sneak out of the living room and when she locked the door on her room, she emptied the bag she was carrying. Two books, the silver wig, the cat mask and 5.000 dollars fell to the mattress. She placed the books on her night stand, the wig and mask under her bed and then took off her clothes to remove the leather suit. The money was a little more complicated to hide, a few shoes boxes will do fine on the top of her closet.  
  
After hiding everything she went back to the living room and found Peter and Morgan struggling with some gift wrapping paper. The scene was really cute, actually. Morgan was placing her little hands on the table to hold the paper in place and Peter was trying to fold the paper around a mountain of kitchen supplies. They were a mess.  
  
"Do you guys need some help?" MJ asked trying to hide her smile at the ridiculous but cute scene  
  
"oh, please! Peter is terrible at wrapping gifts" Morgan looked totally mortified but had funny expression  
  
"Me? You are not helping much little lady" Peter looked so troubled that MJ decided to take him out of his misery  
  
"ok. First of all, that's not the way to wrap a bakery set. Peter, why on earth are the bowls upside-down?"  
  
"He is terrible at this. Told you”  
  
"Do you have a better idea, Morgan?"  
  
"Nope. But MJ has. You do, right?" Morgan looked at her with pleading eyes  
  
"I do. Didn't this have a box or something like that? I can't think of a store just giving a full bakery set without a box" Peter and Morgan looked at each other on a silent conversation and if MJ was getting things right, Peter was on the 'I told you so' part. "You didn't bring the box, didn't you?"  
  
"Nope" Peter and Morgan answered at unison  
  
"Morgan thought it was better to wrap everything outside the box so it didn't looked so 'lame' if I recall correctly"  
  
"And you can't say no to Morgan. Ok, then we can find a nice way to place everything into the big bowl like a fruit basket but with kitchen supplies. Better idea?"  
  
"Oh, my god! Yes! That's perfect" Morgan was delighted and Peter relieved. MJ knelt between Morgan and Peter and started removing a few straps of paper that, somehow, Peter managed to hold to the mountain of supplies. She placed the big bowl on the center of the wrap paper and then started to place the different tools on it in the best way possible. When everything was placed on the bowl nicely, she stared to lift the paper around the bowl to hold it above the supplies, it looked like a big candy. MJ put her hands around the wrapping paper and realized she didn't have any ribbons close by to finish.  
  
"Peter, can you put your hands here so I can find a ribbon for this?"  
  
"Yeah, totally!" he instantly moved his hands to where MJ had hers. When their hands made contact she realized she was freezing or Peters hands were just too warm for her "MJ, **your hands are freezing!** Do you want some tea?"  
  
"yeah. That would be nice. Thanks. But after we finish this" Peter still had one of his hands over MJ's and after a second too long she remembered she needed a ribbon to tie the present.  
  
She tried to make a nice ribbon and to make the paper look decent after Morgan and Peter's attempts at wrapping the bakery set. Peter went to their kitchen and started the kettle for MJ's tea and then decided to make some hot chocolate for him and Morgan. MJ kept wrapping more gifts, those were easier to wrap, especially May and Pepper’s shoes, thank God they had those boxes.

Morgan helped MJ cutting tape and that made MJ’s job easier. She discovered that Peter bought a nice dress for May, a Netflix gift card for Happy, Spider-Man and Iron Man plushies for Anthony and a planner for Pepper. No gifts for Morgan or MJ, that she could see, he always made sure that MJ had a very embarrassing present, last year’s was a terrible Christmas sweater that he made her wear for a full day.

“MJ, bring the gifts you bought for everyone so we can wrap them!” How can you tell a 10 year old that you actually snuck off to steal some money from a bad guy and not to buy presents for her family and your friends?

“I want to keep those a secret because Peter is terrible at keeping secrets and I don’t want you, May, Betty or Ned finding out what I bought for them.” Perfect excuse, Peter was terrible at keeping secrets, he got too exited and started oversharing things he knew

“He is actually really good at keeping secrets” Morgan said after a few seconds in a quiet voice while holding the plushies MJ wrapped for Peter. She remembered the Iron Man plushie and realized Morgan’s Dad was Iron Man, he could be retired but if the timeline was correct, Peter knew him since high school and he probably knew other supers. Ned told all their class that Peter knew Spider-Man and Peter looked totally horrified because “he couldn’t speak about it” so yeah, maybe he was good at those big secrets, but little ones? Not so much

“Well, everybody has secrets Morgan, it’s up to us who do we trust with the big ones” MJ felt her leather suit was screaming at her from the room across the hallway, her secret was a big one. One nobody knew about, not her friends and definitely not her family. Just one specific person and he was hell good at keeping her secret

“and Christmas gifts are huge secrets, peanut” Peter said entering the living room with MJ’s tea and hot chocolate for him and Morgan. He was sitting next to MJ while Morgan was in front of them, they chatted for a few minutes when Peter got a call from Pepper.

“Hi, Pete!” Peter placed his phone on the table in the center so everyone could hear. It made MJ a little uncomfortable, she felt out of place, like she wasn’t meant to hear this conversation

“Hi, Mom!!!”

“Hi, Pepper” MJ didn’t say hi, she just kept listening to the rambling and weird noises in the background of the call

“Oh! Hey Morgan. I was actually calling Peter to let him know that Happy is going to get you. Your dad wants you back to help us decorate the house. Would you like that? I know you wanted to spend time with your brother but he saw a few festive decorations and bought a lot of things and now it’s freaking out because I don’t have creativity… his words, not mine”

“It’s true!! You can’t place those led lights on the fireplace, that’s terrible! And the stockings have to be there, so no lights!” MJ hear clearly everything Stark was shouting from not so far away from Pepper apparently

“Sounds like an emergency mom” Morgan was looking at peter trying not to laugh a loud

“I’m sending Happy to get you or your dad will drive me crazy! Tony!!! **That ornament doesn’t go there!!!”** This time Morgan and Peter shared a loud laugh.

“Nothing new I can see” Peter looked fondly at this phone with their exchange.

“Morgan, please come back” Pepper sounded mortified.

“It’s fine. She will be ready to go when Happy gets here, promise”

“and Pete, we would love to see you and your girlfriend on Christmas. Think about bringing her for some dinner or a lunch or just a coffee! I would love to meet her. Bye!” The phone went quite, just like the three of them. Morgan was looking the phone with curious eyes, Peter was bright red with big eyes and mouth open, MJ didn’t knew how she looked but surprised was a good start.

“Peter Benjamin Parker, you have a girlfriend and didn’t tell me?” oh, oh, Morgan sounded mad.

“What? No! I have no idea what she’s talking about! You should ask your mom where she got that terribly wrong information” Peter was trying to process the last two minutes while getting back his phone from the table

“oh! I definitely will! And after that we are having a serious conversation, brother. MJ, did you know something about this? After all, you guys live together”

“Actually no. I have no idea what your mom was talking about, this idiot can’t be normal so think about him dating someone... Totally unreal!” MJ wanted to ease the mood a little, Peter looked like he wanted to hide somewhere before Morgan killed him.

“ok, peanut! Go grab you coat, gloves and scarf while I pack the gifts back on their bags so you can place them under the Christmas tree” Peter helped Morgan up from the floor and took the mugs to the kitchen. The girl started to run around the apartment to gather her things. MJ saw her entering Peter’s room and a few seconds later running back to the living room and placing more packages next to the ones Peter was collecting. As soon as they finished packing, the bell rang announcing Happy.

“Bye MJ! Hope to see you again soon” Morgan said to MJ surrounded of bags with all the things she bought for everyone.

“Hope to see you soon too, Morgan!” She wanted to be more formal and send some greetings for her parents but she didn’t even knew them in person and she wasn’t going to pretend she cared enough for that formalities

Soon they were alone and MJ tried to avoid the conversation of the mentioned girlfriend, maybe Pepper hear something and took it the wrong way or she was speaking about Gwen, Peter’s ex. Maybe she didn’t know she was dead. Ok no, they were too close for Pepper not to know about her, probably Pepper knew more details of what happened that she knew. MJ needed to clear her mind so she decided to wear her leather suit again and went out without Peter knowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and the kudos here and tumblr! Love you all :3
> 
> Find me in tumblr @drunk-onsunlight


	3. Mind if move in closer?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movie night between Ned, Betty, MJ and Peter and a little of Spidey patrolling NYC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Day #3 of Promptmas!!! I'm updating the tags for the chapters I have posted and not for every chapter because... spoilers. and I hate those xD

**Concept: Caroling & Watching Christmas movies together**

**Dialogue: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!” & “I love you but your taste on Christmas music is horrible”**

* * *

“Peter? Are you listening to me?” Ned told him over the earpiece. Peter was distracted. Thank God he wasn’t swinging, the cold air was hitting his face while he was sitting on a rooftop.

“sorry Ned. I’m just thinking about something”

“and that’s clearly bothering you. What is it? Is Morgan ok?” Peter loved the way his friends bounded with his little sister, they weren’t actually related but the feeling was just the same. And having Ned, Betty and MJ get along with her was pure magic, he felt like he could trust them with big things like the Stark relationship he held with not just Tony but Pepper, Morgan and Happy, even when MJ and Betty didn’t know he is Spider-Man.

“something Pepper said today. I don’t know what she was talking, well, not what a who”

“a who? Ok, you need to speak clearly, you don’t make any sense, Peter”

"you know Morgan was visiting the apartment, right?"  
  
"yeap. What about that?"  
  
"well, at some point we were chatting and drinking some hot chocolate and Pepper called, I had the call on speaker and she said something a about "my girlfriend" that she wanted to meet her and should take her to their house for a coffee or a lunch or whatever. But I don't have a girlfriend"  
  
"yes, that's a little weird. Did Morgan know about that?"  
  
"no! She totally freak out and threat me for keeping secrets from her, then Em told her I was too weird to date someone and that was it" why he was friking out so much about a stupid conversation? He didn't have a girlfriend and he just needed to call Pepper and correct her. That was it  
  
"Peter, are you scared that MJ may think you actually have a girlfriend?" Peter sensed the smile on Ned's face without seeing him  
  
"what? Of course no. She doesn't have to do anything with this" nop, she wasn't the problem, he was just to anxious to call Pepper and correct her  
  
"hum. You sure? I remember you having a massive crush on her back in senior year at high school. Maybe living with her made those feelings show up again" now he was regretting telling Ned about that all those years ago  
  
"Ned, that was a long time ago and then, well, you know, Gwen and all of that happened and I don't think I have feelings for MJ or that I want to have a relationship with someone" Gwen was everything he ever dreamed in a girl and his Spider-Man duties messed everything up leaving him with another death on his shoulders alongside Ben's. That's exactly why he tried to protect MJ, she didn't need to be in danger just because she knew his secret identity. Ned never had problems with him being a target for being a FOS, but with Betty, that was other story and the same reason she didn't know either.  
  
"I'm just saying Peter. This doesn't have to be about Gwen or even MJ, it's about you totally friking out about something that can be fixed with a call. You need to sleep, all this patrol and the cold are messing with your head. Go get some rest Pete" Ned was right, he needed to sleep and call Pepper to clarify the wrong information.  
  
"I'm calling it quits for tonight. It was a slow night after all. Thanks for listening Ned, say hi to Betty for me please" after a short goodbye and a promise for a movie date with Peter and MJ, Ned finished the call and Peter got up from the rooftop.  
  
He arrived home at 2am, he was glad they could pay a small apartment with windows on both their rooms and not just one, like others he had visited while looking for a place to move. That made everything easier, MJ never knew when he went out or came back from patrol, and if something was too bad he texted her that he was out early when he probably was recovering in the Avengers facilities.  
  
The next day he woke up to MJ humming a pop song, she was in a good mood so probably she already took a tea or a coffee. Peter got 4 full hours of sleep since he arrived from patrol and he considered that a win.

“Mornin’” Peter knew he looked totally wrecked but he felt good, like the Christmas spirit was taking over him.

“Hey, loser. Want some coffee?” Her hair was on a messy bun. All her curls were framing her face, she looked beautiful.

“Yeah. Thanks”

“I was thinking, maybe we could decorate today. Do you have something to do?”

“Aammm, no. I’m free. Jameson haven’t called and I am not offering myself until next Monday, I’m really tired” Ned was right, he needed to rest. Rhino, college, The Bugle… J. J. Jameson and his idea that Spider-Man was a threat but anyway having photos of him on every front page he could, everything was too much right now.

“Have you talked to Ned? He said something about a movie night with Betty the other day when we talked” Yes! The movie night they have agreed last night.

“Yeah. He mentioned something last night. We can decorate the apartment and then invite them for some fun. I think we need it” He knew MJ was stressed too and having Betty and Ned around was a good distraction for everyone.

He took his coffee and then helped MJ doing some scrambled eggs for they breakfast and he went to take a shower. After his shower he changed clothes to some Christmas sweeter that he knew MJ was going to make fun of it. While he was deciding in using his Spider-Man socks or his Christmas tree socks he started playing some carols on his phone. He created a full playlist on his Spotify for this moment.

He went out of his room and found Michelle carrying the boxes with the Christmas decorations. How she managed to hold three boxes at the same time was a mystery. If he didn’t knew he was Spider-Man he could swear that she was Spider-Man, but that was a stupid idea. MJ was strong enough to lift the boxes by herself without superpowers, maybe they weren’t that heavy and he was just making things up.

“Oh, God! Seriously? That one?” Peter knew MJ didn’t like that sweeter. It was a Rudolf one with a big red nose that you pressed and it started playing Christmas carols, May bought it for him two years ago and he loved it.

“I know you secretly love it. Press the nose”

“No!”

“Press the nose. I know you want to” He crossed the living room and got close to her

“No! Stop it” She started to run away from him, sorting boxes while crossing the room

“Press the nose, come on MJ!” he was trying to get to her and they ended up running around the sofa, avoiding the boxes and the coffee table. MJ started laughing when Peter got close to her and tried to grab her arm but she managed to get loose and he ended holding her hand for a few seconds until she kept running away.

“We need to start decorating or Ned and Betty are going to arrive and we haven’t done anything” She was still laughing. Peter loved to make her laugh, it wasn’t an easy task but he loved the challenge.

They spend the morning and past midday decorating a Christmas tree that was basically some fake branches placed like a real Christmas tree, MJ said it reflected her soul. Every Christmas, Peter decorated the branches with bright colors, he hang some toys or pushies and tried to add many colors to it. He said to MJ that it was the perfect representation of the two of them, the black, perfectly placed branches for her and the colorful decorations for him.

MJ placed the stockings on their small fake fireplace along with some holly, then moved to the window and decorated it with led lights and tinsel, she finished the decorations placing the wreath on their front door. Everything looked perfect, now they needed to set their cushions and blankets for their movie night.

Two hours later the apartment looked totally different from the day before. Ned and Betty arrived after MJ and Peter took their lunch. They opened the door and found a very smiley Betty using a pink dress and a huge fluffy coat accompanied with Ned using a Christmas sweeter and jeans.

“Hey Betty!” MJ and Betty always found lots of things to talk about. Betty had managed to make MJ open more about her feelings, her college and even family, Peter was very impressed by Betty and her ability to make MJ talk like her life depended on it. But Ned and Peter were never included in those kinds of conversations.

“Hey Dork” in high school MJ called them losers or dorks, now Peter was the loser and Ned was the dork. MJ and Ned did a little hand shake they made up in high school and she moved back a little so Peter could say hi to their friends while everybody entered the apartment. Ned and Peter did their usual handshake and then Peter kissed Betty’s cheek.

“MJ, the apartment looks amazing” Betty was looking around the living room like she was in the White House and surrounded of the most beautiful Christmas decorations

“It was mostly me so, thank you” 

“Hey!! I helped!”

“The tree, right Peter?” Betty knew them too well

“Of course. That masterpiece is my doing” He was very proud of this year results with the decoration of the tree and Ned was looking at it like it was the most beautiful Christmas tree ever

“I love it, Peter” Ned said, always being the supporting friend

“MJ we can make some pizza for the movie night while the boys look for the movies we can watch. Would you like that?” Peter knew that was a key word for “we need to talk without loser and dork listening”

“Yes! I would love to” They moved quickly to the kitchen and started talking right away in whispers.

“That was fast” Ned was looking at Betty with adoring eyes while Peter was looking at MJ moving around the kitchen, totally owning the small space

“Well, we can make the best of our time without them”

“Christmas carols?” they looked at each other on a silent talk they have grown to develop along the years they have meet

Peter showed Ned his playlist full of Christmas carols and they connected a small speaker so they could hear the music through the whole apartment.

_“_ _Jingle bells, jingle bells_ _  
Jingle all the way  
Oh, what fun it is to ride  
In a one horse open sleigh” _

The speaker started to sing and soon both of them started to sing along.

_“Hey, jingle bells, jingle bells_ _  
Jingle all the way  
Oh, what fun it is to ride  
In a one horse open sleigh”_

Ned turned the volume up and stared to sing louder with Peter, making both girls to turn around and look at them. They were singing louder and louder each time the same lines were sung by the speakers on the living room.

“Ned!!!” Peter heard Betty over the loud music and pocked Ned for him to just sing louder

“Ned, Betty is calling you” Peter told Ned close to his ear so he made sure Ned was listening to him. He stopped singing and ran to the kitchen to hug Betty

“I’m here. Do you need anything?” Peter could see how soft Ned was around Betty all the time, it was really nice to see them so happy and comfortable with each other

 **“** Yes. Can you do me a favor? Stop singing, please. **I love you but your taste on Christmas music is horrible”** Betty was looking at Ned with all the love in the planet but serious enough for Ned to know that she mean it

“Not just that the song is totally awful and the lyric doesn’t make sense but also that you both are terrible singers”

 **“** Aw MJ! **But the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”**

“Then can you take some singing lessons for next year?” MJ was teasing him, he wasn’t that bad at singing. He knew it

“Just if you sing with me” He had heard MJ singing and she was really good at it, but she never let anyone hear her singing too loudly, just soft whispers. With that comment MJ turned around and kept doing the base for the pizza. Ned said something to Betty’s ear and then gave her a little peck on the cheek and moved away from her.

Peter could see MJ and Betty chatting while Betty was putting some toppings for the pizza, at the same time she was telling Michelle something and they both looked excited over what they were speaking. Well, as excited as MJ could look over Betty’s news. Her face was mostly expressionless but her eyes were shinning, that was all he needed to know she was interested in whatever they were talking.

“Peter?”

“Mmm?”

“Can you stop looking at MJ with those puppy eyes and pay attention to me?” Ned had a mocking tone

“I’m not making “puppy eyes” at MJ”

“Then I’m getting worried if those eyes are for Betty” Ned was having too much fun mocking him “But seriously, I need to tell you something” Peter turned his head to see Ned’s face and found mixed emotions there

“What is it?”

“I need your help for buying Betty’s Christmas present”

“Yeah, of course. Do you know what to buy or you want me to ask her casually what she wants?”

“I know what I’m buying but I need you to go with me and pick it with me”

“Okaaaay… Can I know what is it? It’s like a big thing? Do we need to hire someone to help us take it to your house?” Peter was confused to say the least

“I’m buying an engagement ring” Ned spoke so fast and so quiet that if it wasn’t for Peter superpowers he had totally missed the phrase

“Ned, that’s amazing!” Peter was really happy for them and totally available to help them to be happy together

“It’s not a surprise, but it is a surprise. We have talked about getting married eventually and we have been dating for a long time and living together is just feels right, so I want to make it official” Peter had a small flashback to a few hours ago, how living with someone felt right. Him trying to catch MJ, making breakfast and shopping with Morgan. Some things felt right, so he totally got what Ned was talking about. Not that he was getting married to MJ but they were close enough to understand the feeling

“Tell me when and where and I will be there. I will be happy to help”

“Thanks! I really want to pick the perfect ring for her” now Ned was making puppy eyes at Betty. It was really cute to see them so in love after such a long time.

“Guys! Pizza is almost done so that movies better be ready” Betty was pointing at them with a spatula as a threat

“They will be ready when you both finish that delicious pizza, honey” Ned moved quickly to the bag were he had brought the movies for them to watch. They picked Love Actually, they all loved the movie and it was perfect for the season.

They girls took the two pizzas they made to the coffee table and some plates. Ned ran to the kitchen and grabbed some mugs and the soda from the fridge. Their sofa wasn’t big enough for the four of them so Peter sat on the floor and helped pouring the soda on the four mugs. MJ closed the curtains and turned off the light. When everything was ready Ned sat with Betty lying on the couch with her head on Ned’s lap. Peter knew MJ wasn’t going to make Betty move to a sitting position for her to sit on the sofa with them, so she sat next to Peter on the floor.

Ned took the remote and stared the movie. Soon enough they finished the homemade pizzas and drank the soda. MJ covered herself with a blanket after half the movie and rested her head on the couch, close to Betty’s knees. Peter could see her trying not to fall asleep, he moved to place his empty mug on the coffee table and placed himself closer to MJ than he was before.

Their arms were pressed against each other and he felt MJ laughing softly to something happening on the movie. He wasn’t paying attention anymore, too focused on the heat radiating from MJ while she was tightly wrapped on her blanket. Was she actually cold? While Peter was divagating, MJ placed her head on Peter shoulder and he froze.

He thanked every God, Lord and Supreme master he was taller than MJ now, just for a few centimeters but that small difference made easier for them to keep the posture without hurting MJ’s neck. He tried not to breath too hard to not bother her or make her move, he also pretended not to hear her heart racing while placing his head over hers and then slowing down as she felt asleep. The movie was coming to an end and he tried to look at Ned.

Betty was asleep on Ned’s lap and he was playing with her hair. They shared a look and decided to wake the girls up so they could all go to sleep. After they woke up, Betty and Ned decided to go home, it wasn’t late after all. MJ and Peter organized the room and lifted everything from the coffee table and took the plates and mugs to the kitchen. Peter was definitely skipping patrol, he wanted to rest a little now that Rhino had disappeared several days ago. He knew he was coming back any minute and he needed to be ready for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and the kudos! Specially to @elbris for all your comments and support :3
> 
> Find me in tumblr @drunk-onsunlight 
> 
> Check more amazing wors in @spiderman-homecomeme


	4. Look out the window at that storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice skating date? Cute coffee shop I found online and passed the address to Peter so he could take MJ there. Spidey finally meets Black Cat in person, or something like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4th Day of Promptmas! If you are from Latinamerica and do agüinaldos then have fun! Remmember to stay safe with your family. Lots of love

**Concept: Ice Skating**

**Dialogue: “If you sing Jingle Bells one more time…” & “Do you mind?” “What? I’m cold”**

* * *

_December 20 th_

The day was particularly cold and MJ was trying not to kill Peter. He was on his tenth time humming Jingle Bells and it was just 9am. MJ opened the curtains and took a look outside, the snow was falling down slowly. She loved the view of the city she grew up in during winter season. The phone on her pocket vibrated with a new message, her friend was informing her about that guy that was bothering MJ so much, people saw her as a villain when she was trying to help the city. Not that she cared what people thought about her, maybe they will found out one day. She needs to make a plan for tonight, she can’t let them create whatever they are trying to do If that implies hurting people, innocent people like her friend.

“Michelle?” she had been so distracted by her message that she didn’t notice Peter calling her name

“Parker?” She placed her phone back on her pocket and turned around to face Peter. He was standing in the middle of the living room looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read properly

“What would you say if I tell you that I want to go ice skating… with you” the invitation took MJ off guard but she actually liked the idea

“yeah. Why not? Is Morgan going?” Was this a friendly invitation or actually was Morgan going and he still wanted them to bond even more?

“No, she is not coming. But if you want to invite her…” She really liked Morgan but she wanted to spend some quality time with Peter. Uni, Black Cat and her part time job ended up in not seeing her roommate a lot and she missed spending time with the loser.

“No. It’s fine. What if we go grab something to eat and then go ice skating?”

“Rockefeller Center?”

“There is no better place to go ice skating than Rockefeller Center, loser.” It was close to 10am, while they found something to eat it could be close to midday and maybe they could walk to Manhattan to be there late afternoon and finally ice skate together.

“I want to show you a place I found. I think you’ll love it” Peter’s eyes were shining with excitement.

“Then let’s go” They gathered their belongings and went out to the cold day.

They were walking quietly when she heard a little sound next to her, a mumbling of a song. Oh, no. not again.

“Peter, **if you sing Jingle Bells one more time** I swear to god I will push you while skating and I’m making sure you die” it wasn’t the fact that he was humming the song, it was that she seriously hated the song.

“Why you hate Christmas carols so much?”

“I don’t hate all of those but that specific one doesn’t make any sense. It’s the same verse over and over again” Peter didn’t say anything, he just looked at her for a few seconds and kept walking. They fell into a comfortable silence, MJ loved that. At first when they moved together there was awkward silences that none of them knew how to fill, but now it was different. They could be studying at 1am in complete silence, just the sound of their keyboards and the company was enough, no words needed.

“Here we are” Peter stopped on a corner. There was a really nice looking coffee shop there.

“Mighty Oak Roasters?” she didn’t recognized the name and when she took a look inside, she noticed a normal cafeteria with a particular bar and a huge machine on the back corner

“Yeap. Come on in!” he held the door for her and she moved inside the coffee shop

“Bar or table?”

“Bar” Not that she was thinking about how a date with Peter would be in this exact same place he picked for her, not sure why just yet but sitting with him at the bar made her feel more like a friendly thing and not the image she totally could see in her mind on one of the tables

“Welcome to Mighty Oak Roasters. What do you want to drink?” A very nice girl asked them with her sight on a small notebook on her hand. The huge menu was right in front of her behind the bar hanging on the wall

“Is our first time here so what do you recommend us?” Peter spoke first making the girl look at him

“Well… the coffee shop is focused on vegan pastries and using freshly roasted beans for coffee and self-sustaining tea” the girl was looking between Peter and her. Every time the waitress looked at Peter she stumbled over her words and tended to blush, MJ have seen that reaction many times. Peter was a handsome man, she wasn’t blind, she noticed him since high school and saw him grew up into a man, a handsome one for the matter. But above the whole situation with the waitress, MJ was very impressed. Peter knew MJ so well that he found this vegan self-sustaining place.

“Can you bring me matcha latte, please?”

“For me a mocha, please” Peter didn’t even looked at the menu, he was focused on MJ. He knew how to read her after so many years

“I’m impressed, Parker”

“I knew you would like the place” he was very proud of himself

“Not you first time here, right? You didn’t even look at the menu to order” his confidence dropped a little but kept it cool

“I found the place one day, it looked nice and searched for it later” that wasn’t the full story, MJ knew that much but she wasn’t pushing it either.

The tea was amazing and according with Peter, his mocha was pretty good too. They chatted while on the coffee shop about how their part time jobs were going. MJ decided to finally tell Peter about that photoshoot an agent had offered her to do and he was very surprise but supportive. He told her about how his job in The Bugle was demanding more of him, he never spoke about his famous Spider-Man pictures so she never asked. She told him about a few cases they were working on the lawyer’s firm with a new guy called Harry Osborn and his awful attempts of flirting with her.

The hours passed and soon it was afternoon so they decided to go to the ice rink. It was a half an hour walk, just to give it time for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to light up. When they finally arrived it was late afternoon, the air was colder than before and she could see lots of families already ice skating in the rink.

“You ready?” Peter turned around to talk to her. He wasn’t wearing a scarf given that he gave his to the snowman they built with Morgan, but he didn’t seem cold. He looked perfectly fine while she was very cold, she kind of missed wearing her leather suit beneath her clothes

“I was born ready, Parker” MJ knew that phrase always made Peter laugh

“oh. Get out of here!” she loved when he tried to mock her while trying to hide his laugh

It wasn’t the first time they went ice skating but it was the first time alone, they always went with Ned and Betty and even May. Peter was a little clumsy at first but after ten minutes he managed to do a little flip without MJ having to lift him off the ground. MJ used a little bit of her Black Cat abilities to show off. While Peter moved around trying to do his flip, she was skating backwards when she decided to show Peter something she used as Black Cat.

“Hey, loser. I’m going to do a little something over there. Try not to kill yourself while I do that, ok?”

“I’m not gonna die! Maybe I will do another few flips over here”

MJ skated backwards again, gain speed as she went around the rink without stop looking at Peter. Suddenly she opened her arms, then used her left toe to turn while lifting her right foot from the floor, that caused her to turn around in the air once and land on the outside edge of her left foot smoothly, then stopped in front of Peter with an easy smile.

“How did you do that?” Peter was looking at her like she had grown two more heads

“Saw it on an article about ice skating flips and seemed easy enough to try it” It wasn’t an easy flip, she knew that but she did that flip every once in a while when swinging through the buildings, it was easy to do that while trying to escape. The rope attached to her hip making her perfectly stabilized, her high heels allowing her to turn around once and land sometimes on another building, sometimes on the next corner of the same one.

“Easy? If I try that I probably end up breaking my neck”

“Yeap, you are too clumsy for those things, loser”

They kept trying to do more flips for about half an hour with Peter falling to do most of them and MJ laughing while he seated on the floor.

“Peter you are a mess! You’re going to be all bruised tomorrow. We should go home and get some rest”

“Sounds like a very good idea. Now can you help me stand up and stop laughing?”

“Why? Is really fun to see you trying to get up on your own”

“MJ!”

“Okay! Fine!!!” She took his hand and helped him get up. They moved to the door where they have left their shoes and put them back on. The ride home was full of laughter from MJ and lots of blushes from Peter. They got home by 8, they reheated the pizzas they made from the night before and watched some TV on the living room.

“I think I’m going to sleep. I’m tired. Thanks by the way, the coffee shop and the ice skating, I needed that”

“Any time, MJ. Sleep tight”

“And take care of those bruises, loser”

“will do”

She headed to her room and closed the door behind her. She checked her phone to see if her little friend was fine or if he had any news. She just had a new message from him “u comin’?” She was tired but she also needed to check on him, the situation was getting worst by the second. She replied a quick “yes. Stay safe” and putted her leather suit on. She looked herself in the mirror while adjusting her silver wig and black mask on, she looked exhausted but this was more important, she could sleep tomorrow, she didn’t have any plans after all.

She checked that nobody could see her and then climbed out her window. Her belt had everything she needed for her little mission. She climbed the wall and got to the rooftop of her own building. She saved her claws, the same ones she used to climb walls, and searched for her phone do a quick call

“Hi, Em. Where are you?” He was the only one that knew her real name and that was dangerous enough

“I’m going out but I need you to tell me what you saw or heard to go safe” it wasn’t time to do small talk and he knew it

“Prowler, something about some equipment to improve his damage on the city, something big Em. But in small amounts so it doesn’t call anyone attention. He was going to take the money tonight to a new place”

“where?”

“Commodore Barry Park at eleven thirty. But please, be careful”

“Like always. I will text you when I have the money”

“Bye Em. Take care”

She ended the call and threw her rope to the next building. She wasn’t as fast as Spider-Man was with his webs but the rope did perfectly fine and she used more the claws to climb than any other artifact she carried with her. She started moving to Brooklyn as fast as she could, she knew the park and knew that it didn’t have lots of places to hide a group of people with weird costumes on. It was going to be an easy task to find them.

She was at the park at eleven, the place was surprisingly empty, maybe it was the low temperature, she was freezing too. She decided to make a round on the park, she moved between the trees, her black leather suit helped her to hide on the shadows, but her wig made it a little more difficult so she needed to think where the moon was placed so her hair could camouflage with the moon.

She found a place above a small building that was near the park and soon she saw the Prowler walking through the park and placed himself under a big tree. If she moved quickly, she could take the money and run without making a big show. When she started moving closer to the Prowler she heard an explosion close to them. The prowler rolled his eyes and spoke to some kind of intercom but she could hear what he was speaking. A few seconds later a second figure with four mechanical arms appeared to her right, his suit was simple, like a mechanical octopus. Too late to get the money from the Prowler now, she will have to do the same from a few days ago, go directly to the warehouse and take the money from there.

A second louder thud shook the three where she was and now she could see the source of the sounds. Rhino was running to the small park and of course, spider-Man was after him. The Prowler and the Octopus man exchanged a look and then turned around and moved to opposite sides. The Prowler walked under the tree she was so she took her chance and jumped right behind him.

“I have heard a lot about you, Prowler” She always tried to change her voice when being Black Cat. He turned around to see her.

“Cat, you are not a myth then”

“I can be a nightmare if you want me to” She walked around him and put her chest closer to his back, she placed her right hand on his shoulder and moved down his arm, when she got to the bag in his hand she moved quickly. She pressed the little button on her palm and her claws popped out, her left hand was on his neck and her right was holding the briefcase handle. A third thud sounded, but this time Rhino took a tree to the ground with him. Prowler saw Spider-Man first so he released the briefcase and ran past Rhino.

“You own me Cat!” the Prowler screamed and looked back at her. His scream made Spider-Man look at her, the robotic eyes in his mask moved like he was trying to focus on her.

“Damn it” MJ cursed under her breath. She didn’t want Spider-Man involved in any of her business. His distraction made Rhino run away but he didn’t follow him, he started moving to her.

“You must be the famous Black Cat, right?” she could tell that he was changing his voice an octave lower, just like she changed her voice but she didn’t care who he was in real life

“If I’m famous then I’m not doing my job well enough” she needed to escape with the money so she started to use her most useful weapon, her charm. She wasn’t an idiot, the leather suit made all her curves stand out, her long legs with high heels made her taller than most men and she used all she could to escape from situations like this one without hurting anyone

“Well, famous for me. I have being searching for you, some petty theft, you are on and off the scene, not making big deals or causing lots of trouble. Wonder why” he knew basic information about her, she could handle that

“Well, I know more about you” she moved closer to him. She was taller than him for very little, maybe without heels he was taller, just maybe “you are an Avenger, one of the old ones. Not as old as Thor or Iron Man but old enough to have their respect. Very close to Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Capitan America. Connections with Wakanda because you are kind of a genius and you probably have rejected bigger projects to keep an eye on New York, so you probably live close too. And half the journalist love you, the other half hates you” She have studied him, there wasn’t enough information but what she got was enough to set him off

“Now I’m ashamed I don’t know any more information about you” he was following the conversation how she needed it to go. She moved to his back, let the briefcase on the grass and placed her hands on his waist

 **“Do you mind?”** Spider-Man flinched at her touch and tried to move away from her. She could feel his hard muscles under the red and black suit

 **“What? I’m cold** and you seem hot enough to help me warm up” she spoke to his ear and she felt him flinch. One of her claws climbed up his arm

“Easy Cat, those claws don’t seem friendly” she had to laugh at that. He knew what she was doing and she was ready to run away if necessary

“Just like those web shooters, I have seen what they can do”

“That’s why you are standing behind me?”

“Very good. You are a genius after all” she heard a little laugh behind his mask but his robotic eyes didn’t show any emotion

“Just very observant. Learned from a friend” she thought about Peter, how at first she observed him all the time and with the time, he learned to look around and take mental notes for later. He appreciated that tip as a photographer with The Bugle

“Very useful. So I should stop all this and just go, right? No need to distract you. Too smart and observant for that, Spidey” She grabbed the briefcase from the grass and started moving to a corner of the park

“Just one question before you go”

“Shoot” She walked backwards not running but not giving him a chance to get her

“Why?”

“Why are you Spider-Man and not a regular citizen?” she didn’t wait for the answer. She threw her rope to a nearby building and did the same flip she had done early on the ice rink. The toe of her foot gave her the impulse to jump while her other leg spun her around on its own axis to land on the corner of the building the rope was holding onto. With her claws she climbed the wall and searched for Spider-Man but didn’t find him.

She made her way home close to 1am. As soon as she arrived, she took her suit of along with her wig and mask, the briefcase was next to her window. She tried to be really quiet, she didn’t wanted to wake Peter up. She put on one of Peter’s shirts she had stolen from him a lot time ago. It was one of his science pun shirts and she liked the soft fabric and maybe the fact that when she took it, it smelled like Peter.

She was lying down on her bed, tired of the day but couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Spider-Man and Peter. Spidey was nothing like Peter but at the same time there was something familiar with him, something that made her think about Peter when she touched him, when he question her for her actions and when he didn’t answer back to her.

“God, I need to sleep. I’m mixing everything up and that’s definitely not good” She spoke softly to the celling. Thinking about Peter was kind of an issue, but comparing Spider-Man and Peter was insane. Peter had clumsy movements when Spidey was agile in every one of his. Peter was shy while Spidey openly flirted with her. Peter had a strong moral compass while Spidey let her go even when he though she was a thief. They were totally different and she was just wasting time thinking about them.


	5. That took a lot of convincing!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some festive baking with MJ and maybe Peter is seeing MJ on a different light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm the fluffiest writer ever! Watch out Jane Austin, I'm coming after you! JK I will never. Posting earlier than used too because sometimes I forget I'm an adult that have to do shit :/

**Concept: Baking & Hot Chocolate**

**Dialogue: “The cookies! They’re burning!”**

* * *

_December 21 st_

He was dreaming, of that he was sure. Black Cat and MJ were mixed in one image, like they were the same person, and that was totally ridiculous. Yes, MJ did that complicated flip on the ice rink and then he saw Black Cat doing the same flip but on a wall, coincidence. With those two images mixed he went to sleep and woke up at a ringing phone, his phone.

“yeah?” not to formal but whatever, it was too early… probably

“Pete? You ok?” Morgan’s little voice shook him to awakening, she never called if it wasn’t important. She always texted him

“Yeah. I was sleeping. You ok? Are Tony and Pepper fine?”

“We good Pete, don’t worry” oh, so he was on speaker with the Starks

“Oh, ok… so, what’s going on?” He had totally forgot about calling Pepper to clarify that he didn’t have a girlfriend, maybe this was the perfect time

“Is MJ with you?” Morgan’s voice was low and calm, not like her, she was always excited when she asked about MJ. Was everything actually ok?

“Ammm… no? She is sleeping. Why?” He knew she wasn’t awake because he couldn’t hear her on the kitchen, but anyway, this conversation was getting weird

“Can you wake her up?” Definitely weird, Pepper sounded the same as when she made corporative calls.

“Ok. Is everything fine?”

“Yes Peter, trust me. It’s good” Tony’s voice calmed Peter down more. He got out of bed and crossed the hallway that separated him from MJ. He knocked the door twice and waited. His super hearing caught her moving around her bed, cursing softly and getting out of bed to open the door.

“What?” she sounded like she wanted to kill him but he knew better than that, she just needed coffee

“The Starks need us” Her face was pure confusion, he shrugged to tell her he didn’t know what that was about while putting on the speaker

“Ok, she is with me. You are all on speaker”

“Hi MJ!!!” Morgan shouted enthusiastically

“Hi little one” MJ’s soft voice caught him out of guard, she could be so soft with Morgan and so tough with everyone else

“It’s a pleasure to finally hear your voice Michelle” Tony spoke this time. Peter knew he had told him too much about MJ, mostly creepy and weird stories so he respected (and feared) MJ a lot.

“Mr. Stark, it’s my pleasure. I have heard a lot about you” she sounded so professional. Like when she was speaking to a client

“I think not as much as I have heard from you. Peter never shuts up about you” Oh God, no! Please no. Tony couldn’t be calling just to embarrass him. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them back, he found MJ looking at him with a mocking expression on her face

“They don’t shut about the each other dad, that’s for sure” Morgan’s voice ended the moment and made them look at the phone on Peter’s hand like it was speaking on its own

“Morgan, what are you doing?” Peter spoke a little rough to his phone

“Oh, Pete. It’s not a secret anymore. We know you guys are dating!” Pepper spoke enthusiastically

“What?” MJ wasn’t looking at Peter, she had her eyes glued to the phone

“Morgan told us you guys wanted to keep it down but it’s actually good news for everyone!” Morgan did what? He was going to kill her little sister

“Yes! Peter, you already told my dad about MJ a long time ago, he told my mom and I told them what I know about both of you”

“And it was kind of obvious Peter”

“What?” Peter was more confused by the second

“Your feelings for MJ” Pepper and Tony spoke at unison and Peter wanted to hide forever and never look at MJ in the eyes.

“And it’s obvious MJ had a thing for you too, Peter. It was bound to happen. You can both stop pretending” MJ looked dumbfounded

“Now that we all know what’s going on, you are both invited to our Christmas family reunion. It starts tomorrow and you can all go back home in time to go back to college” Pepper spoke like she had the last word and wasn’t hearing a no for an answer

“Yeah. Why not?” MJ’s voice sounded so sure that Peter turned his head so fast he felt the world move around him

“What are you doing?” Peter whispered to MJ so the Starks couldn’t hear him

“What? Scared you can’t resist my charm for a few days, loser?” MJ whispered to him and he had a flashback of gloved hands touching him and soft whispers in his ear from last night

“Ok! Perfect! No need to bring food or something like that, just the presents you already bought. We are inviting Ned and Betty too by the way. See you tomorrow” Tony ended the call without giving them the chance to say their goodbyes

“Now I want to bake some cookies for tomorrow. Do you think Morgan will like that? Maybe we can decorate them there with some frosting” MJ was moving around the apartment like nothing happened, just a normal reunion with friends or something like that, which wasn’t the case

“MJ?”

“Where are the cutters for the cookies?” She was still rambling about the cookies while he tried not to freak out to much about the whole situation

“Michelle!” She stopped looking for whatever she needed and looked at him

“Peter”

“What the hell just happened?”

“I was trying to find the cutters, the rolling pin and a bowl for the Christmas cookies. You wanna help?” She had an innocent face which he knew was nothing but innocent

“You know that we are going tomorrow to that reunion as?”

“Yes, Peter. I heard them”

“And you say yes” She narrowed her eyes at him, he could see the Michelle he knew from high school right in front of him. Observing him like he was a phenomenon

“So? You don’t want to go?” if he didn’t managed the conversation properly this could end in a massive disaster

“It’s not that, I would love to go but why you didn’t tell them we are not together, as a couple, I mean” Her face was expressionless now. That worried him, he always found a way to read her

“Peter, believe me, it’s the best way to show them we are actually not together. Stark has an idea we are together because you never shut up about me but I guess it’s because you never shut up about anything and we are friends that live together. And the other person you talk about nonstop is Ned. Now, probably Stark told something to Pepper and she also thinks we are dating or something. And then we have Morgan who knows we are not dating but she, anyway, gave them even more information of how we are "dating". It’s the perfect opportunity”

“I’m not putting two and two together here” MJ rolled her eyes and placed a hand over the counter

“I don’t want to go to my family reunion since there’s gonna be a lot of people I don’t want to see and pretending to be you girlfriend sound ten times better than getting comments all night of “why are you still single?” or "so, Michelle. Why you decided to stay in Queens when you can totally afford an apartment soemwhere else. Are you a lawyer?" that I really don’t like to hear. And I bet you get those same comments since you haven’t dated anyone in a few years, except the thing of the apartment but you know what I mean” Peter wasn’t so sure about them pretending to date but he wasn’t going to admit that he did get those comments from Tony, May and even Happy

“So we are going to pretend to date for this reunion to save the comments from everyone and then what. Or we are going like us and prove them we are not together?” were they supposed to have a terrible break up or something? He didn’t want to fight with MJ, pretended or not

“You can tell them we broke up because we saw that we get along better as friends so we can still live together. If that actually ends up happening we can always pretend we hate each other”

“Wow. You can lie with such ease”

“We are not lying. We still friends, right?” He just shook his head affirmatively and MJ went back to her preparations for the cookies.

Peter sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. He changed the channels not looking at what they had on, he just needed something to do while his anxiety was making him think about everything that was coming up. Was faking a relationship with MJ really that easy? Was everyone going to believe that they actually were dating or discover the lie? And what about Morgan? She knew they weren’t together and what if the plan was to show everyone they weren't together? How do you do that?

“Are you that actually paying attention to those infomercials?” MJ was sitting next to him and he haven’t noticed

“How are the cookies going?” of course he wasn’t paying attention to whatever was on TV. They could be saying that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and he wouldn’t even know.

“Pretty good, just put them in the oven”

“So you are actually taking the cookies with the Starks tomorrow? I know you have your opinion on Tony and what Stark Industries did so you don’t have to go or even make the cookies, we can eat them here” this is it. This was her way out of the fake relationship if she wanted

“I know but if you actually like the guy there’s got to be something good you see in him. You always do that”

“He found a way of doing good things for everyone. He may look like he is selfish but he’s actually very generous. He cares about others, too much” the infomercials on the TV were long forgotten

“Like you. You care too much about everything and everyone. May, Ned, Betty, the Starks, even The Bugle”

“And you. I care about you too” he looked at MJ, her curls where on a messy bun at the top of her head, she was wearing a white top, jeans and converse. When she turned her face to see him, he realized there was no need for make-up on her, she looked beautiful. All his observations were on a very friendly way, of course.

**“The cookies! They’re burning!”** She jumped from the couch to the kitchen and opened the oven. He moved next to her and saw the cookies on a perfect golden. He could see Christmas trees, something he assumed was Santa, some snowmen and snowflakes. Probably snowflakes, he didn’t have a clue

“Were they burning? I like that golden color” he was sure the cookies were perfectly fine, why MJ had ran to the kitchen like the oven was on fire?

“Yeah… Ammm… the timer… I didn’t set the timer… they can burn really fast” she was stumbling over her words. Didn’t sound like normal MJ, she was a little flushed even. Maybe because she had run to the kitchen, who knows

“I’m gonna place them somewhere when they can cool down for tomorrow”

Tomorrow, yeah. The Stark reunion, where they were going to pretend a relationship to save the comments of being single from their respective families or convicethem all they were just friends. All his worries were back just with those single words. And they were staying there for a few days so maybe he should pack some clothes or something

The phone on his pocket told him he got a new message on the group chat he had with Ned, Betty and MJ

  
Betty: _OMG! We r going 2 Stark’s 2morrow!! Can’t wait to see u all!_

MJ: _Betty, we saw each other like two days ago_

Betty: _Ik. But we still have a lot to talk ‘bout apparently Michelle Jones_

Ned: _Yes. We need to have a serious talk too, you fake friend @Peter!_

  
He was in a lot of trouble if Ned and Betty knew about the “relationship” he had with MJ, relationship that wasn't even a thing. MAybe they could get there as friends and everybody would believe them they are _just friends_


	6. To break this spell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Identity reveal & Superhero shenanigans ruining plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This next to chapters are long as hell! Bear with me and have fun on this 6 day of promptmas :D

**Concept: Identity reveal & Superhero shenanigans ruining plans**

**Dialogue: “Listen, Santa doesn’t have to know about this” & “Oh, I know exactly what you’re trying to do. But you will not ruin my Christmas. Not again. Not this year.” & “Keep doing that if you wanna end up on the naughty list”**

* * *

_December 22 nd_

Ned: _See you in thirty. You know where_

Time to buy the ring!!! Peter was actually very much excited about going to buy the ring for Betty, it didn’t matter that it was 9am and that he didn’t sleep the night before. He didn’t know where they were going but the reunion point was the Rockefeller Center. He gathered all his things and put his suit on his bag (just in case, you never know what could happen in New York, what if he crossed paths with Black Cat again? Or Rhino? He needed to be prepared).

He decided to walk, it was a long way on a very cold day but he needed to think. Ned was probably going to ask him about him and MJ and what was he supposed to say? Lies? Ned knew better than that. He needed a good plan if they want this lie to survive almost five days. When he arrived to the Rockefeller Center he send a message to Ned telling where he was. After a few minutes he saw Ned walking towards him.

“Hey, Ned!” Peter said enthusiastically

“Hey, fake friend” Ned looked at him with a little bit of disappointment in his eyes and tone

“Are you kidding me?”

“Why you didn’t tell me? How long how you been guys dating? I can’t believe May told me and not you”

“May told you?” Oh no! Probably half of Queens knew he was dating his roommate and they weren’t even dating

“You told her and not me! I can’t believe it, seriously. I have been waiting for this since high school and I didn’t know anything. Ok maybe the movie night was kind of a clue but anyway, I wanted confirmation not speculations” What? There was too much information in Ned’s rant that he needed to process

“Wait… what? What do you mean? First of all, May didn’t know. Second, waiting since high school for what? And third, what about the movie night?” Ned had started walking and Peter was almost running after him

“Oh, whatever. You will have to tell everyone the story tonight or Betty is killing you” He decided to leave the topic if Ned was giving him a way out of the real reason behind the surprise relationship with MJ

“Where are we going?” Ned had slow down a little and Peter was walking next to him with his backpack on his back

“Right here” Ned stopped in front of a store that had a sign where it was read MDC Diamons. Fancy and probably very expensive.

“Wow. You’re going all in, aren’t you?”

“She deserves it” while Ned said that, he pushed the door and closed it behind them

“Good morning. Welcome to MDC Diamonds. How can I help you?” A blond girl behind a glass showcase talked to them

“Hey. I’m looking for an engagement ring for my girlfriend” Ned spoke to the girl like he was telling her top secret information

“Do you have something in mind you would like to see or should I show you lots of options?”

“I want something that’s not common. Maybe different stones and not just one, gold maybe” Peter was impressed, Ned obviously had a very clear idea of what he wanted for Betty

“I have a few options for you” The girl moved around behind the showcase colleting different things

“First I can offer you engagement ring with two different stones besides the central diamond” she showed them to rows of beautiful rings. One row had green stones and the second one had blue stones “These ones have Colombian emeralds, the best quality. And these ones have Australian sapphires, also the best. They all have a gold ring and the central diamond is up to you and your budget”They looked to all the options anf then shared a worried look “Do you like a carved or plain ring? That can make it easier for you” the girl offered them a solution to their turmoil

“Maybe with some kind on design, a simple one” Ned moved his eyes from ring to ring, not daring to touch them

“What about this ones” Peter showed Ned a few ring with different designs, some with emerald and some others with sapphires

“I like this one” Ned pointed at a particular ring. The girl took it from its place and showed the ring to them

“This ring is a 14 karat yellow gold ring with engraved butterflies, a little rope design and 6 round green emeralds. The diamond can be from 5mm or bigger. Emeralds are not so common for engagement rings too”

“How much?” Peter couldn’t hold himself, he needed to know the prize

“It costs 1.650 dollars. Without the Central diamond”

“Without the diamond?” Peter knew engagement rings could be expensive but wow

“Can you show me the diamonds, please?” Probably Ned didn’t hear the prize or something, he was delighted watching the ring and not freaking out about the prices

“What kind of shape do you want for the diamond? We have round, princess, emerald, asscher, oval, radiant, pear, hearts, marquise, cushions and trillions” Now Ned was looking at her with total panic. How was he supposed to know what shape the diamond was best for the ring and Betty?

“What do you recommend?” Peter asked while Ned was looking at the girl with worried eyes

“For this kind or ring it’s recommended a round diamond but if you want something different the best options are the princess cut, asscher and trillions”

“I like trillions. What about you, Ned?”

“I like them too. What options do we have with trillions?”

“We have two options. I will show you” The girl walked inside the store and after a minute she returned with two small boxes

“The first one is a 0.45 carat diamond that costs 840 dollars and the second one is a 0.44 carat diamond that costs 1.071 dollars” She opened both boxes to show them each diamond, they were beautiful

“Why the difference in prices?” Ned was looking at the diamonds, probably trying to understand why such a huge difference when the cheapest was bigger

“It’s the size, the clarity of the stone, the colors, the symmetry and even the quality in the cut” Peter felt the hairs on his neck tingle. The diamond and ring talk totally forgotten now. He moved to the front door and saw it. Rhino was a few blocks from them.

“Ned!” Peter didn’t turn around to call Ned

“Yeah?”

“Can you come here for a second, please?” He felt Ned moving toward him. When Ned placed himself next to Peter he moved from the glass door to face Ned.

“Did you see that on the outside?” Ned had a confused face while looking at Peter, but as soon as he turned to face the glass door his face changed from confusion to fear “I need to go, stay here” Ned moved his head up and down but didn’t say a word. He liked being a Friend of Spider-Man but never quite liked being too close to the action, he was good just being the Guy in the Chair and now just the supportive voice in Peter’s ears while patrols

“Yeah, ok” The girl was looking at them as if a third head had grown in both of them “Just be careful Peter” Ned knew how bad it could get when Rhino was involved

“I will, but you need to be safe too” Peter opened the door but before he went out he heard Ned speaking again

“Peter? I’m not mad at you for not telling me, just shook. I’m actually really happy for both of you. You guys deserve to be happy” Peter knew he was going to be terribly mad when he told him the truth about their pretended relationship

Without another word, Peter moved to a close ally to change his normal clothes for his suit. He hadn’t done that since high school, he always tried to find more private places to change. He webbed his backpack to a wall behind a dumpster, a trick he developed as a freshman in college after losing two bags on the same week.

He used his webs to swing the few blocks to where Rhino was. When he got there he found a mess in the street, people running around screaming, cameramen reporting Rhino’s appearance, police trying to control the crowd and then, there was Rhino. He was grabbing a police car and he threw it across the street

“Hey, big guy! If you wanted a car as a Christmas present from Santa you probably just needed to send a nice letter and behave over the year, no need to steal them” When he got Rhino’s attention he webbed the car and pulled it down again. Nobody was hurt.

“Take as much people out of here before it gets worst” Peter said to a police officer but he didn’t move, he was standing there looking at Rhino.

“Let me help you, Spider-Man” Peter turned around and found a man on a green suit with a blue cape. Peter remembered seeing the same suit a few nights ago, on the small park in Queens. “Go away cop” The man talked to the officer while looking at his eyes and the cop immediately moved away, but without helping anyone else. There were a lot of people in danger

“Karen? Take notes on his abilities. Investigate him. Find as much as you can” Peter spoke to the AI in his mask

“Got it Peter”

“Oh, look who’s here! My dear friend, Black Cat” The guy on the green suit spoke past Peter

“Prowler” Peter turned around and found the same girl in black leather suit and silver hair behind him

“Do you guys had a bad guys reunion and forgot to invite me? Rhino is mad because he didn’t like who he picked for Secret Santa, right?” when he finished the phrase Rhino moved to the Rockefeller Center tree and started shaking it

 **“Oh, I know exactly what you’re trying to do. But you will not ruin my Christmas. Not again. Not this year.”** Peter remembered last year very vividly. Rhino knocked him down using a regular tree that he threw at his head. He was unconscious for three days so he missed Christmas. He wasn’t letting Rhino ruin this year’s Christmas too, he had a fake relationship to put up that afternoon

Peter moved to Rhino, leaving Cat and Prowler behind. He would take care of them after Rhino, he was the bigger threat. Peter webbed Rhino’s hands to a building near them. He had designed a bigger devise for the web liquid he designed in the labs, every time he fought Rhino he ran out of webs. He wasn’t making the same mistakes twice.

\------

“Every time you are around something goes wrong, Cat. What are you doing here?” The Prowler started walking around her. She didn’t like it

“Do you believe in superstitions?” She loved that mind trick, as the human representation of a black cat, everyone believed she carried bad luck with her

“I do not. But maybe I should. What do you want Cat? Are you on Spider-Man’s side?”

“Yeah. That’s definitely why I’m helping him right now fighting Rhino. He’s your guy, isn’t he? Yours and that octopus man from the other day” She needed more information, and she wasn’t in anyone’s side

“So not with the Spider. Well, maybe the bad luck will go away from us if you join us. Doctor Octopus will be very pleased to meet you” Ok, so the octopus man was the leader of this weird gang

“What about Rhino? Is he good?” She needed more information from the inside to try to end that stupid group of people that hurt innocents for the sake of power

“He’s out of control. The Doc is not happy with his behavior but at the same time, he is strong enough to end the Spider and if he does that, we can all move on to our own plans. Care to join Cat?” No, thank you very much

“Maybe if you tell me what would happen if the Spider is gone” She was waiting the Prowler would be stupid enough to tell her. While she waited for more information, she saw the fight between Rhino and Spider-Man on the back. She saw Spider-Man trying to move the people out of the fight range. She was really glad for her contacts, she could see everyone’s faces from far away without a problem.

That’s when he saw him. What the hell was Ned doing there? Wasn’t he supposed to be with Peter buying last minute presents for today? Where was Peter? She couldn’t see him near Ned

“Sorry Prowler, need to go. But we have a long pending conversation” The man on the green suit didn’t say anything. He just started moving closer to Spider-Man and Rhino. Well, good luck to the Spider. She needed to take Ned out of here before he got hurt

She walked into the crowd and past the media. Rhino was breaking Spider-Man’s webs from his hands and grabbing different things to throw at him but if Spidey wasn't fast enough the objects could hit him or the people watching the fight

“Ok everyone! You need to get out of here. This is getting bad. You all need to get out of here. NOW” She was standing in front of the crowd and started pushing the people softly to move them away from the fight

“I’m not going anywhere” She heard the phrase and cursed Ned in every language she knew. Why he wanted to be there so bad?

“Are you seeing the flying objects?” The frustration was getting the best out of her “Don’t you have someone close by to take you out of here? A Friend?” Where the hell was Peter?

“I’m not going anywhere” Ned repeated and she wanted to kick him now, instead, she grabbed his arm and started moving him when a flying car crashed next to them, the hit was so strong and close to them that they ended up on the floor. Ned hugged a little package and when he tried to lift himself from the ground, the crashed glass of the car cut his knees and hands. The fear in Ned’s face was visible and her rage grew even more if possible, the stupid Rhino hurt Ned and she was ready to kill Rhino by herself.

\---

After Rhino threw that car to a running crowd he saw it. Black Cat was pushing someone to a building. What the hell was she doing? Now she was kidnapping people? First Rhino doing a tantrum, then Prowler trying to hurt him and now Cat kidnapping people? What the hell was going on?

“Hey Cat! Where you going?” When she turned around she released the man’s arm and he also turned to face him. When he saw who was, panic and rage ran through him “what are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to go?” his panic didn’t let him think about the consequences of his words

“You know him?” Black Cat asked Ned with a surprised face

“Everybody knows Spider-Man”

“Of course everybody knows him, but he knows you! Spider-Man, can you tell your friend to get the hell out of here? He is not listening”

“Why should he listen to you? You were dragging him to a building for what? What if you hurt him? Saw you with the Prowler. Making plans or something?” Peter knew he messed up in the moment her face turned a bright red, the rage was palpable. What if she was actually helping Ned get out of there?

She spoke to Ned’s ear. Whatever she said made Ned’s eyes opened and his brows went together. Ned looked at her from head to toe and he started moving with the crowd, away from the fight

“My job here is done Spider” Her tone spit venom. He saw her moving away from him and couldn’t hold himself, he felt guilty

“I’m sorry! He is my friend, we’ve known each other for long and I care about him. Freaked out a little when I saw you pushing him. He didn’t look like he wanted to go. I shouldn’t have reacted like that, you were helping” Peter didn’t know why he told all of that to Cat. His senses were always off around her, like she wasn’t a threat. Maybe he could trust her.

Before she could say something, Prowler and Rhino tried to attack him. His senses screamed at him at the danger. He webbed the car Rhino had thrown a few minutes before and he launched it to Prowler first and then to Rhino’s head. They both were on the floor after the hit and Peter saw the police moving to them. He took the opportunity to thank Cat for helping not just Ned, but the other people that was around

“Thank you for helping. You saved him”

“How long have you known each other?” Her curious eyes went through him

“School” Maybe his senses were off around her but he couldn’t trust her completely, she was talking to Prowler after all “You said something to him that make him go. Can I know what that was?”

“I know what he was supposed to be doing, and maybe I dropped a name that made him move.” Betty. Her name made him go. So she actually knew Ned. Maybe it was someone from college or work.

“Can we talk somewhere else? I have a few questions for you”

“Lead the way, Spider” Peter bet she had a lot of questions too if they both tried to save Ned.

“Can I take you with me somewhere safe?” Peter had a confidence rush and decided to act on his weird attraction to Black Cat

“How?”

“Swing with me?” He saw the doubt on her face for a second and then it was gone

“Why not? How are we supposed to do that?” He moved closer to her while he thought about his next move

“That’s a very good question. I have never done this. Amm, you can hug me?” He said the last as a question just to give her more options if she wasn’t comfortable

“Yeah. I think that will do” Cat moved closer to him and placed her arms around his neck. He could smell her perfume and found it familiar, she smelled like MJ. He didn’t get his mind around that thought, lots of people bought the same perfumes, nothing worth to think about

He placed his hand around her waist to pull her closer, when he shot his web they both jumped. She placed her long legs around his waist making the position very intimate. Peter moved through the buildings for a minute and decided to land on a rooftop high enough so they could talk

“Thanks for the ride, Spidey” Cat moved her legs from his waist but her arms remained around his neck. **“Listen, Santa doesn’t have to know about this,** you are probably on the good boys list and I don’t want to ruin your Christmas present **”** Peter didn’t get what she was talking about until she kissed him on the cheek, his mask between them, many thoughts and feelings running through him. His main thought was MJ, he was supposed to have a relationship her. It was a fake relationship but he still felt bad, like he was cheating on her

 **“Keep doing that if you wanna end up on the naughty list”** Peter said and she moved her arms from around his neck while containing a small laugh. Peter knew it was a terrible come-back but it was the only thing he had in mind at the moment

“You had questions”

“You obviously know Ned and Betty. How?”

“School” Her answer was simple but it implies many things. Did she know who he was too? His silence have her the clue to keep talking while he freaked out a little. What if she knew who he was and wanted to hurt him? Now they were alone and his senses were too calm to be true “Why don’t you take off you mask, Peter? This is getting ridiculous”

“What?” He felt the sudden change in her voice. She didn’t sound as smooth as she had just a few second ago

“Let’s do something. I take off my mask and wig and you tell me how on earth the clumsy, nerd, loser Peter Parker ended up being Spider-Man. Deal?” It wasn’t her, no! That’s impossible. He was speechless

Black Cat took off her gloves. Peter was watching everything in slow motion. Her right hand moved to her silver hair and her left hand moved to her mask. She removed the wig and mask, brown curls falling over her face and again, he was speechless. It front of him was MJ, his roommate and fake girlfriend for the holidays, with a black leather suit, silver wig and a cat mask on her hands

“You can take your mask off, Peter. No need to hide” He felt like he had woken up from a dream, a nightmare actually. He was getting out of air inside his suit and his hands moved to the back of his neck. The mask was on the floor after a few seconds

“How the hell this happened?” The shock was visible now on his face

“How the hell you happened? I always thought about the possibility of you being Spider-Man but you both are so different, yet so similar, it was very confusing. After living with you I believed you were just good friends with Spider-Man for the Stark connection with the Avengers”

“A radioactive spider bit me on a school trip. Did a radioactive cat bit you or what happened?” MJ laughed at his comment and took a while to answer his question

“No radioactive animals for me. Just a little bit of tech, training and a nice suit.” Peter’s first thought was that it was a very nice suit in fact. He had so many questions for her, that’s probably how Ned felt when he found out Peter, his best friend, was Spider-Man.

MJ sent her hand to a belt she had around her waist and pulled out her phone. She unlocked it and all Peter could see were her eyes and fingers running through the screen

“Ned is asking where we are, if we are ok, he says we were on TV and knows we are together somewhere but would love to know if we are ok. He is already at the Stark’s house, they are waiting for us” She read the messages to him and saved her phone again on her belt.

“We should go and talk about all of this later”

“Yeah. We have lots of things to talk about. For now we have a fake relationship to put up for our family and friends. Remember me to take some pictures and send them to my sister explaining why I’m not going to the family dinner with the Jones”

Peter saw MJ move to the edge of the building and disappearing when she threw her rope somewhere he couldn't see. He moved to the edge too and shot his web to go home with MJ dressed as Black Cat, the thief he had being wondering about from a few days ago and a decision, they were going to convice everyone they were dating, not to prove them the opposite


	7. Listen to the fireplace roar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is sh00k but Peter and MJ need to be the greatest actor in the planet and prove everyone that their relationship is as real as the snow on a Christmas day. Lots of characters from here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: anxiety thougths

**Concept: Meeting the family & fake dating at a family holiday party**

**Dialogue: “What’s Christmas really about” “VENGEANCE!”**

* * *

_December 23 rd_

MJ was shock, yes, but certainly not as much as Peter. They landed on their building rooftop and MJ felt Peter’s eyes all the time on her, and that’s saying a lot because he was wearing his mask again. She decided to go down the wall to get to their apartment window and soon Peter was doing the same. She noticed that she needed her claws to do it while Peter touched smoothly the walls with his hands. She was definitely asking Peter about his powers later.

“You need to stop looking at me like that. I’m surprised too but we need to go to the Stark’s house in a few minutes” MJ moved to her bedroom, but this time she let her door opened, there was no need to hide anymore

She took some cozy clothes and decided to take a quick shower before changing. Once she was done she packed the cookies and the frosting she made to decorate them with Morgan, on her rush to pack she noticed that Peter was sitting on the couch looking at the wall

“Peter, what are you doing? Why do you still have your suit on? … Peter?” He was in his own little world, she knew it happened when he was stressed or worried about something. "Peter, you ok?” She spoke softly to him

“Mmmm” She took that as a no “Too much”

“Too much of what, exactly?” She decided to sit next to him, maybe just for moral support

“We need to go, set a believable story for everyone. Ned asked me about it and I didn’t know what to answer. He had a bag, right? You mentioned it. He did buy it. You stole money and today you were helping the people not to get hurt. Who’s the Prowler, by the way?”

“Peter I know you have lots of question but we need to go. We can talk about this later. I promise I will give you an explanation. It’s not a bad thing. You need to remember what I told you at the park the other night” MJ knew how it looked for him. She stole money, lots of money, he didn’t know the reason. He saw her twice with Rhino and the Prowler, talking and even he saw them “exchanging” money for some favor maybe. And they have been friends forever, lived together for so long, he said it. For him, she was one of the bad guys.

“What’s our cover story then, for the Starks?” It was the first time he looked at her eyes since they arrived home

“Go get change and we can talk about that on our way there” She didn’t have a plan either. She thought Peter was going to freak out and back out but he didn’t. She wasn’t even sure why she did it. The family story was true but she never cared about their comments enough to have a fake boyfriend

Ten minutes later they were on a taxi to go to the Stark house. She could see Peter checking his phone. Apparently May was trying to contact him after Tony Stark called her to invite her and Happy to the family reunion and told her about their “relationship” and then another round of calls and texts after the fight with Rhino

“May is going to kill me! I have 50 calls and another 40 messages”

“Just tell her that you are good and that we are going to see her soon” MJ was also checking her phone. She wrote her little friend about the new information she had on Doctor Octopus and his friends

“Well, some of her messages are about us. Which reminds me of, what are we gonna do? Mostly about Morgan, she knows we are not together”

“Yes but she kind of confirmed her parents we were in a relationship of some sort so she on the same boat with us. If she helps then we good, but if she doesn’t we will need to tell them the truth”

“Ok. So, how this happened and when? Ned mentioned something about the movie night that he noticed but didn’t wanted to talk about there or something like that”

“What about the movie night?”

“I don’t know! He was rambling and said that but never explained what he meant”

“Well, what if we say we have been dating for a month? Is not that long for everyone to believe it’s fake but long enough to start telling everyone?”

“Sounds good. Are we going to tell them you know who I am?” He looked at the taxi driver to see if he was paying attention to their conversation “You know what I mean”

“Yeah, I get it”

“Wait! We have a problem there. Almost everybody in this reunion knows I am… amm... you know. Except for Betty and you”

“Why just us?” she felt a little bit offended. Weren’t they best friends that trusted each other? Ok, not like she told him her secret but she had been doing this for a few months, not years like Peter have

“It’s not the first time Ned has been caught in a fight and Pepper had some bad experiences too with Tony. We wanted to keep you both save. Happy knows because he works really close to the Starks and May found me wearing the suit in high school. After Washington, remember that?”

“Of course I do. How I never found out?” She took proud of herself for being so observant and she had observed Peter for too long not to noticed anything

“That’s a very good question actually. I was always afraid of you finding out or getting in danger or maybe just observing enough and discovering me”

“I had my suspicions but I guess I had other things in mind” Like her forever stupid crush on him, the decathlon team, her family, finding a good college and a job and now Black Cat. Normal people stuff.

“After Ned and May found out I tried to be more careful around people too”

Peter decided to tell MJ the story of how Ned found him crawling on his ceiling one night, the real reason why he left at homecoming and how he felt guilty for Liz and her family. The he talked about May, how she found out. Her relationship with Happy and the many times Ned helped him during different fights. He was talking about Karen, his AI when they arrived to a huge facility. She knew where they were, the Avenger’s facilities

“Weren’t we having this family reunion at their house? What are we doing here?” Before he answered, he paid for the taxi drive and promised MJ she could pay the drive back home

“This is like home to the Avengers, but the reunion is not exactly here. It’s on a cabin on Tony’s Club, the Coveleigh Club.”

“Show off”

“It’s Tony Stark, he likes to show off a little but he actually does it for safety. What if one of the bad guys finds out the real identities of some avengers are and use that to hurt people? He always thinks of everything. But first, I want to show you something”

“Inside the facilities?”

“Yeap. That’s were my lab is”

“You have a lab? Wait, of course you have a lab, nerd” He was walking through the buildings like he owned the place. His confidence was higher as a superhero and right now he was Peter Parker on a Spider-Man mission, not just Peter. When they arrived to a white, small building he approached a high tech board and talked to it.

“Hi, Karen! I need to go in. Can you open the door for me?” He spoke to the board like it was a person and not some kind of program

“Hi Peter. Can you confirm your password?” the machine answered with a very real voice, not those fake computer generated voices she used to know

“Peter Parker. Favorite young adult” She could see how proud he was on his password, what a nerd.

“Welcome Peter. Have fun in the lab” The glass door opened and he moved to a side and made a move with his hand to let MJ go in first

“Ok. What are we doing here?”

“Don’t you think it’s amazing? I love this place. It’s were I create new formulas for my webs, design new suits, fix my webshooters. Wanted to show you my second home” He was looking at a white board with some formulas on it. The tittle on it was “venom webs?”

“It’s actually really cool. Does Stark help you with these things? The formulas, the suits?”

“Not anymore. He did but now he comes here to mess with me, talk and check how everything is going. He has his own lab, that’s where Morgan goes when she is bored”

“He still designs things for Stark Industries?”

“Yes and no. He is mostly working with Shuri, she is Queen in Wakanda. Together they have health projects to help people with disabilities. A few of the Avengers were the first ones to be part of the project” MJ was shock, she knew about Wakanda and how they helped develop new technologies but never thought the Avengers could have been part of those kind of projects. And not as a nice face to show the project but as patients. Maybe she judged them too hard at a certain point

“That’s really cool”

“Yeah. I help when I can but I’m not that good at medicine” She was looking at the different shelves Peter had. She could see many artifacts that were probably part of his suits. He had a table with something that looked like a glass board in the center of the lab

“You are a genius Peter, you could learn the basics and then probably came up with the cure for a disease that doesn’t exist yet” She placed her hand on the glass and she felt it vibrate under her touch

“Confirmation denied”

“Oh, sorry” She was speaking to Peter but the table spoke again

“Don’t worry. Maybe try again” The AIs weren’t unknown to her but that was actually weird

“Who’s that?” She spoke softly to Peter just in case the AI decided to answer her instead of Peter

“Oh. She is Karen. Tony designed it for my first suit but I moved it to the lab and I report things to her and then she helps me design or adjust fight patterns. Like with Rhino, we record every fight then analyze it and I’m more ready for the next time. Karen, show me the damage I manage to make today on Rhino’s suit, include the modifications on the armor that you detected”

“Ok, Peter. Anything else?” Some lights on the table were blinking and different codes were running through the screen

“Nope, just want to show MJ what you can do”

“Oh. So, Michelle is here? Congrats Peter. Should I record her fingerprints for later?”

“Congratulations?” MJ was very curious about what Karen had recorded to answer like that

“Yes. Tony told me he was going to be deadly old when Peter finally did a move…” Peter pressed a button on the screen and Karen stopped talking

“Did you mute her?”

“Nope. Karen, the graphics. Thanks” The screen started to form a 3D shape of Rhino, after a few seconds it began to divide into parts. The arms, the legs, she could see every little detail on Rhino’s armor. Suddenly she had an idea

“Karen? Show me everything you have on Black Cat” Peter’s eyes got bigger when she finished the sentence but couldn’t do anything. Karen was already forming new elements in 3D.

The central image was her on the leather suit. She recognized the image from the park the other night. When she placed herself behind Peter, Karen was scanning her. Next to her image there were different descriptions, most of them with question marks. He was right, he didn’t know much about Black Cat.

“Retractile claws, mountaineering equipment, ice skate, not her real hair, not her real voice. Very observant, Peter. Yes, I have retractile claws. Yes, I use mountaineering equipment but is slightly modified for my purposes. Definitely not my real hair or voice. What do you mean with the ice skate thing?”

“Amm…” He was scratching his neck like he did every time he was nervous “The day we went ice skating you did a flip on the rink and then you did the same flip but on a building wall. When I saw Black Cat doing it I remembered you doing it on the ice rink, so I told Karen to search for the flip you did and collate the data with Black Cat’s flip. But guess what Karen, we found our Black Cat and no need for those things”

“Do you want me to delete the Black Cat file, Peter?”

“I don’t know. Do you want me to delete it, Em?” Peter was looking directly at her eyes and she actually considered what it could mean for her to be part of his official records or the Avengers records. Maybe she didn’t like the idea of being on the radar but maybe her little friend wasn’t wrong either, she needed help every once in a while

“Karen?” She made a decision while looking at Peter’s brown eyes

“Yes, Michelle?”

“Can you add to Black Cat that her real identity is Michelle Jones?”

“Will do” She turned to the graphics again and saw the ‘Real Identity’ item that had a question mark change to her name

“Thanks, Karen. And you can keep my fingerprints for next time. I think we should go. They are waiting for us” She started moving to the door without looking at Peter when she felt his hand on hers. She stopped in her tracks and turned to see him looking at her

“Thanks. And you are more than welcome to my lab any time you need. You have pretty nice tech but I know it can improve. If you want, you can design more things here, or improve what you need” He was still holding her hand and began to massage her knuckles softly.

“I’ve never designed anything, actually. I have some help with that, thanks for the offer too. Maybe one day I will introduce you to the guy who helps me doing this” He released her hand and put it on the pocket of his jeans

“Oh. Yeah, that would be nice”

He walked past her and opened the door for them to go out. After he locked the glass door, they walked in silence through the facilities until they arrived to an open area. She didn’t see any cars or vans that could take them to the Club Peter mentioned before

“Am I missing something? Where’s the car?”

“Let me send a quick message” after a few minutes she heard it

“Are you kidding me?”

“What do you mean?”

“A helicopter?” The sound was louder by the second

“It’s a long way on a car. On the helicopter we will be there in a few minutes” His soft smile made her stomach turn a few times. How he managed to do that? She wasn’t sure

Peter was right, the helicopter flight lasted a few minutes from the facilities to a huge club with a central building, an Olympic pool, a beach and a golf course. The cabins were close to the club but not enough so the people weren’t going to bother the ones on the cabins. And they weren’t “normal cabins” they were luxury cabins. They stopped at a huge cabin, with three floors and wood walls. On the door a “Merry Christmas” sign to welcome them. She felt more and more nervous every second they had to wait for someone to open the door. Maybe they shouldn’t be doing this, maybe it wasn’t worth it and she should apologize and go home and then spend the rest of the winter break with her family, yeah that would be good. While she was planning to run away, the door opened in front of them to a very smiley May.

“Peter! You’re alive!” she pulled him so hard for a hug that they almost fell down

“May, I’m fine. Sorry for not calling, I was a little busy” May let Peter go and turned to look at her

“Yeah. Busy with your girlfriend. I’m still mad you didn’t tell me, you know how much I love MJ, Peter” Ok, time to act, she was stocked now with everyone in this huge cabin for Christmas. She could totally do this, well, she hoped so

“Yeah. Ammm, we were fixing some things back home” Peter was scratching his neck again and that was making her nervous

“The good thing is that your bags are here already. By the way, MJ your cookies are adorable! Morgan is really happy to see you both”

“Hi May” She knew May for a really long time but she couldn’t help but feel like she was meeting everyone for the first time again

“Come on in! We have hot chocolate if you want!” May hug her and took their hands in each of hers and guide them inside the cabin. A huge living room with a 8’2” Christmas tree welcomed them.

Sitting on the couch she saw some old faces and some new ones. Morgan was the first one to jump from her spot next to the tree and ran to them. May released Peter’s and MJ’s hands second before Morgan crashed against Peter.

“Hey, peanut!” Peter lifted Morgan from the ground and made them turn around a few times before placing her back on her feet. MJ realized Peter lifted Morgan like that every time they saw each other. How she never realized that this was not something ordinary someone could do? She doesn’t know. Now that she knew who Peter was, it all made sense

“Hi, big bro. What took you so long?”

“Ammm. I got caught up in something at the facilities” After he finished his explanations to Morgan, the girl turned to MJ and looked at her with a little bit of mischief in her eyes

“Should I call you big sis now?” Morgan said her welcomes loud enough to make everyone laugh while MJ was blushing

“Hi, Morgan” MJ closed the distance between the girl and her to mess with her hair a little to make Morgan ran away from them

“Well, MJ you already know Uncle Happy, May, Ned and Betty” Morgan took the place of hostess

“Hey, Happy. What’s up, Loser? Hi, Betty” Everyone greeted her really quickly from the couch

“But you don’t know my mom and dad!” Morgan took MJ’s hand and they walked through the cabin until she was standing in front of the Starks

“I’m really happy to finally meet you, Michelle. Peter and Morgan talk a lot about you. And you are right Morgan, she is beautiful” Pepper extended her hand to greet her. Her soft smile and warm eyes calmed MJ’s nerves. “I’m Virginia, but everyone calls me Pepper”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you” MJ always heard Peter expressing his admiration and respect for Pepper but he could never quite said why. Now she got it, Pepper was the kind of woman to inspire others and not even noticed

“Finally!! I could have sworn you were in Ned’s and Pete’s imagination if I wasn’t seeing you in person now. You know who I am but no formalities. Call me Tony” Apparently MJ was speechless in front of Tony Stark, not that she was that impressed by him. She just knew how important he was for Peter, the man almost adopted him and saved the planet a few times or whatever. And her opinion on him had changed a little. Now she was literally speechless

“Nice to meet you, Tony” MJ managed to say a sentence after a few uncomfortable seconds after Tony spoke.

“I need the full story later, Pete” MJ was so nervous about meeting the Starks she didn’t notice that Peter was standing really close to her, so close his right hand was on her right shoulder.

“Hi, old man” Peter dropped his hand from her shoulder and moved forward to hug Tony. When they stopped hugging, Peter’s hand was back on her shoulder like it was something they did on a daily basis

“We need to talk about today too. There were a lot of new people, wasn’t it?” MJ knew what Tony was talking about. Today’s fight between Rhino and Spider-Man was in every possible channel and she bet he saw every bit of it

“Yeah. Some new, others surprisingly not so new” Peter looked at Ned and then back at Tony. MJ wondered if she needed to pretend here that she didn’t knew who Peter was because of Betty. She was the only one that didn’t know his superhero identity

“Well, maybe you should go talk to Tony while I say hi to Ned and Betty” MJ still needed to check if Ned was ok with her and the Rhino thing.

“What a wonderful idea Michelle. Let’s talk while your girlfriend checks on everyone else” Peter moved away from her but stopped after a few steps

“Come here for a moment, please?” Peter took MJ’s hand and dragged her close to the Christmas tree and then whispered to her ear

“Should I keep the information of Black Cat for myself? It’s totally up to you because I know he will ask me about me going with Cat after the fight” MJ already took her decision on Peter’s lab when he asked to delete or not her info.

“You can tell him. I need to check on Ned, he is more important right now. And I know he must know some things about me that are not to flattered but I will work on that later” She made sure to spoke softly back to him so no one could hear them

“Ok. See you in a few” They looked at each other’s eyes and MJ’s stomach did a flip from how close they were. It was annoying how often that was happening. Peter turned around and left after Tony

“Ow. You guys look so cute together!” MJ came out of her mind as soon as she heard Morgan’s words.

“Speaking of cute things. We need to talk about something, Morgan”

“I don’t know what’s that but we can talk about whatever you want, big sis” Morgan’s innocent face didn’t fool her

“Dork, can we talk for a moment?” Important business first. She needed to know Ned didn’t hate her 

“Yes. Of course” MJ saw an entrance that could lead to another room so she headed there without actually knowing where they were going. Soon, she found out in was the kitchen. A huge kitchen. It was probably as big as Peter’s and hers apartment.

“So… why are we here, MJ?” Ned was curious as if he didn’t know what they needed to talk about

“You know why Ned” She was trying to act casual but it wasn’t working

“Ok yes. I know and I’m really excited! You guys dating plus Peter being Spider-Man and you!!! YOU ARE BLACK CAT!”

“Ned stop shouting!” How on earth he was able to keep Peter’s secret? She had no idea if he acted like this

“Wait… Peter said something about Black Cat stealing money and that he needed to pay more attention to here because of that” Ned started to pace on the kitchen while talking “Are you stealing money? Why? I know you are not rich but you work part time as an assistant on a firm, do you need money for something? We can help you”

“Ned!” He stopped talking and walking, then looked at her with a million questions on his eyes “I know you have lots of questions but this is not the right place to talk about this. Nobody knows, well, just three people know”

“Who else?” MJ wasn’t ready to tell everyone who helped her doing all of this. The real reason she was stealing money from some bastards, the reason she didn’t trust law or justice to take care of this

“Peter, Tony Stark and you. They are talking about that right now” It wasn’t entirely a lie but she knew it wasn’t the full information either

“Betty doesn’t know? I thought she knew about this. You both share everything”

“What? No. It’s not like I got home one day and called Betty “Hey mate. Guess what, now I have a black suit and some magic tricks to go out patrol in the middle of the night. How was your day?” That’s not how this works. You know that” She knew she was speaking to quickly but Ned made her a little anxious about the whole situation

“Yes, that’s true. Sorry”

“It’s ok Ned. What I was actually really concerned was about you. How are you? I saw your hands and knees bleeding after Rhino launched the car at the crowd” Ned’s face showed the panic he felt hours ago in the Rockefeller Center

“Yeah. My hands are good but one of my knees not so much. I had to tell Betty what happened, well… kind of, and she bandaged me. There was an embedded glass and she had to remove it with tweezers, she wasn’t having fun with that”

“I’m sorry, but you ok? It’s the gift ok, too?” 

“Yeah. It’s a little painful but it’s fine. And the gift it’s perfect too. Mr. Stark helped me hide it in one of the rooms as soon as we arrived so, all good” The happiness shown in his face was like nothing she have ever seen in Ned. It was beautiful to watch

“MJ!” She heard Peter scream from one of the rooms, she didn’t know exactly where she was calling her or why. She managed to went back to the living room they were in first and found Peter with worried eyes

“You ok?” What if Tony hated her now for being Black Cat and told Peter to kick her out of the cabin? Not that she cared what he thought about her he didn’t knew why she was doing what she did and if he wanted to kick her out then she wasn’t going to justify herself to him. She knew she was helping people so fuck him

“Oh! There you are. Couldn’t find you and I thought you were gone” What? So no deal with Stark? Damn her anxiety! It always got the worst out of her when under too much pressure

“I was speaking with Ned, remember?” They walked towards each other and found themselves on the main couch.

“All good?” He was worried about Ned too, she knew him too well

“Yeah. What about you?”

“A little surprised but all good. We have the same questions but later” She knew she promised Peter answers and she needed courage to tell him everything. She had kept this for a long time to her and sharing it wasn’t going to be easy

“WE SHOULD DO A BONFIRE!!!” Morgan shouted for everyone to hear her idea. The good thing, everyone agreed with her.

Everyone left the cabin and settled on the sand next to the beach. May and Happy started to stack logs for the bonfire while Pepper and Morgan brought food from the cabin to the outside. MJ and Peter were carrying some tree trunks to serve as chairs for all of them and Ned and Betty brought blankets from the rooms to the beach.

When the bonfire was ready and everyone was comfortable with blankets, Morgan started to prepare some s’mores for everyone. The conversation was flowing around them when Tony interrupted everyone

“Hey Pete, MJ! You guys own us a story. Peter, how did you go from “Oh, MJ is so intelligent and beautiful” to “Michelle Jones is my girlfriend”? We all want to hear that!” They all turned to see them while agreeing with Tony. They wanted to hear a story that wasn’t there because they totally forgot about making something up. Time to improvise

“First of all, I don’t sound like that. Second, I never said any of those phrases” Peter tried to defend himself but no one was buying it

“Maybe the first one at some point during high school, even after that” Ned knew exactly how to fluster Peter and he was killing it. MJ couldn’t help but laugh a little

“I definitely heard it at some point during the last week” Morgan joined Ned’s comments and if MJ was correct, Peter wanted to hide his head on the sand and never go out again

“I’m pretty sure I heard that too”

“May! Can you not help them, thanks” Everyone was laughing and Peter was bright red

“Okey. Enough of bullying my nephew. We all want to hear how this happened and why nobody knew about it”

“Maybe MJ can tell the story” Oh no, he didn’t. Damn, she needed to think fast about some good plausible story

“You will totally regret this Peter” She whispered to Peter’s ear and then turned to look at the bonfire while she started her story, their story.

“Well it wasn’t that long ago, actually. And he didn’t make a move, it was me. He was too afraid and too astonished to ask me so I had to end all of that tension” Peter was blushing even more than before

“Of course it was you, MJ” Betty looked really proud of her

“Was that on the movie night you guys had at the start of winter break or before that?” Morgan provide her with a piece of story they never thought about

“Yes. There” MJ and Peter spoke at the same time

“We were watching the first Christmas movie of the season and you know, it was one of those romantic movies and that set the tone. I thought “why not? I’m not stupid, we like each other like more than friends so it’s now or never and let’s hope for the best” and that was it. We have been dating since that” What an awful story but she didn’t care. It was plausible enough and she read somewhere that when you gave lots of details on a story it was because it was false

“What a shitty story. I want full details of that! What actually was the move you did? Did you say something or kissed him? I need the juicy details, Em!” damn Betty and her journalist mind

“She kissed me. One second I was watching the movie and the next thing I knew was MJ was all over me. She couldn’t resist herself” Peter cut MJ’s answer and now it was her time to blush. Everyone was laughing and cheering at her

“Oh. Holidays bringing people together! It’s beautiful” May was looking fondly at them

 **“** Yes! **What’s Christmas really about?”** It was the first time Happy made an intervention in the conversation

 **“VENGEANCE!”** MJ’s answer came out with so much force that everyone stopped talking and looked at her. All their faces showed a different emotion between worry and fear “I’m joking!” As soon as she said that, everyone started laughing, except for Peter. He knew she was speaking her mind and that she was deadly serious about her answer

“MJ?” Peter whispered to her while everybody kept commenting on how cute they were together

“Yes?”

“We seriously need to talk about Prowler and Rhino. You can’t fight them on your own”

“We will see that” MJ said it in a soft tone but hard enough for him to know that she was deadly serious about it, she wanted revenge. They were hurting people she cared about and they had to pay for that.


	8. How lucky that you dropped in (So nice and warm)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan knows Peter likes MJ and she is 67% sure MJ likes Peter too so she is trying to help them to get together for real and plans a snowball fight that ends up in them laughing a lot and holding hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was the hardest to write. I wanted Morgan to show her own little world and what she experienced with the Starks and the Parkers and it ended up hell hard to make! But at the end it was very satisfying to me  
> Also, while I'm psting this I'm writing the last chapter of this fanfic and I have so many mixed emotions. Happy because I managed to end a project and sad because I loved the journey with Peter and MJ so much.  
> Hope you all have a great Christmas week and stay safe!

**Concept: Outsider POV & Snowball fight & Board games Shenanigans**

**Dialogue: “Do _not_** **throw that snowball” & “It’s hand holding season”**

* * *

_December 23 rd_

**Morgan’s POV**

I know Peter likes MJ, it’s obvious. Everybody can see it, except the two of them. And I think MJ likes Peter, well, I’m not entirely sure but 67% at least. I have known Michelle since she moved in with Peter and at first she was a little quiet and she didn’t speak too much but that changed when we took the time to speak to each other. I saw everything that Peter said MJ is, beautiful inside out, intelligent, passionate and many other awesome things. And Peter is an amazing person too, that’s why he is my big brother.

A few weeks ago I heard my dad talking with my mom about how much Peter had changed. He was dating Gwen and everyone loved her, even MJ, but things went wrong on a fight and she died. After that, Peter had a bad time, May was really worried about him so my dad convinced him to start a new life, rent and apartment, find a roommate, keep working with the Avengers projects and get that master degree he always dreamed about. Then MJ needed a roommate and their new life started.

Peter was happy now, he spoke about MJ non-stop and another bit about Ned, Betty and May. He developed new suits and web shooters and his college was going great. Mom said that MJ seemed like a nice girl and that was good that Pete was better after what happened with Gwen.

Suddenly my dad told my mom he thought Peter and MJ were dating because it was impossible that they weren’t with all the things Peter told him about. For him, lots of things sounded like dates and a normal couple life, so maybe I confirmed that their plans seemed like dates and the way they looked at each other was more than platonic.

I never said they were dating but my dad decided to make a last minute holiday party and invite them as a couple, then, they could confirm or deny if they were dating or no. For my surprise, they say yes. Now I know it’s a fake relationship but their reason to do it was actually really weak. And that’s why they need to see they like each other! So here we are, all of us sleeping next to a beautiful bonfire.

Pete and MJ are cuddling under a blanket. Pete is hugging MJ from the back, his hand is covering MJ’s, their legs are intertwined and MJ’s curls are all over Pete’s face. I’m dying to see what happens when they wake up and find themselves in each other arms. This is gonna be fun.

\----

Update: yes! It was very funny! Peter woke up first and tried to take MJ’s curls out of his face so she woke up and when they saw their legs and how close they were, they both jumped like they were touching fire. I couldn’t hold the laugh

“You guys need to work on those details if you want to play like a normal couple”

“Good morning to you too Morgan” Peter said and MJ just made some unintelligible words

“Morning, Pete. Coffee MJ?” I know she is not a full person until her morning coffee. Peter told me that

“Ujum”

“I will take that as a yes. Help me, Pete?”

“Let’s go” we rise from the sand and moved inside the house to find May on the kitchen with my mom

“Hi, mom! Hey, May!” I hugged my mom and then then May while Peter greeted them

“Do we have coffee? MJ needs some caffeine or she will look like the Grinch” Peter was quietly hugging May

“We do. Peter, bring her some coffee and go find something warm. According to the news we will have snow in a few hours and we don’t want anyone getting sick” May told him and he moved away from her, served the hot coffee on a mug and went out again

“May, I’m really happy for Peter. Michelle is a really nice girl and they look really happy together. It’s really good to see Peter so bubbly and himself again” My mom told May and I could see she was speaking sincerely, we were all really worried about him after Gwen died. While they speak I search for something to eat when they talk caught my attention again

“I have known MJ since forever. She is my best friend’s niece. They even were our neighbors for a few years. Michelle has always been a lovely girl but her mom is not so nice I’m afraid. She was always judging Michelle for her life choices. That she was reading too much, that she wasn’t being girly enough, that she never had a boyfriend, so MJ kind of closed herself to everyone, except Ned and Peter” Wow, with May saying all of that I realized how lucky I am that my mom and dad always encourage me to be myself and not some made up version of what people want me to be. They know the weight of being a young Stark, heir of a massive company and part of a group of super heroes. People has expectations, some of them unrealistic

“I’m going to see if they want to play some board games with me. You can join if you want” I wanted to spend more time with Peter’s friends. I know how important they are for him

“Ok little one. Have fun. Maybe we will join later” I went out of the kitchen leaving my mom and May talking about lunch. I haven’t notice the hour but we definitely miss breakfast.

“Let’s play some board games!!!” I went out of the house and screamed my bright idea to Peter and MJ that were looking at the sea. They were snowflakes falling already

“No monopoly. That thing gets savage every time we play it” Peter had played with the Starks and let’s say maybe some houses were thrown at some point in the game. My dad is very competitive

“What about _Uno_? I like that one” MJ rose from the sand and cleaned her clothes before starting to walk with Peter to the house

“I love it! Set the table on the living room while I invite Ned and Betty”

“I’ll go to the kitchen. We missed breakfast. You need food, fruit, all of that, peanut!” Peter was an amazing brother, seriously.

I went to Ned and Betty’s room, knocked a few times and invite them to play. The door opened immediately

“Of course we would like to play, Morgan! We’ll be there in a minute” Betty looked amazing on a lovely red and white dress. She was all Christmas outfit. I took the opportunity and changed last night clothes before getting back to the living room with Peter, MJ, Ned and Betty.

“You can go take a quick shower and change while we set everything to play” Ned looked hype to be playing board games. MJ was right, they were huge nerds

“Thanks! I have sand all over my hair and it’s getting cold” MJ started to walk but I could tell she wasn’t sure about where to go

“Ned, can you show Peter your bathroom? I will show MJ the bathroom on the other room so we can play” I took MJ’s hand and lead her to the second floor where all the rooms were. Ned and Peter were following us. We parted ways but Ned had to take Peter’s bag so he could change his clothes.

Fifteen minutes later we were all together around the coffee table on the ground, ready to play. They all were speaking about how cold the day was but how beautiful everything looked. I could hear my mom with May in the kitchen laughing while my dad and Uncle Happy tried to cook something for everyone. A little secret it’s that actually Uncle Happy is very good at cooking and my dad learned a few things from him.

“Ok. Let’s start!” Ned was mixing the cards

“How many cards for each one?” Betty took the cards from Ned’s hands and started counting them waiting for an answer

“Seven” Peter and MJ spoke at the same time and the three of us just looked at them. I think Ned and Betty really believed the fake relationship thing, or maybe they are playing along too. Betty counted the cards and started to place them face down on the table in front of everyone

“Rules? Real ones or normal ones?” I had to ask them. People love to play by their own rules and totally ignore the real ones

“Wait, what?” Peter looked really confused

“Yeah. This game actually has point system. The first one to get 500 points wins” I explained to them and I could see everyone trying to make sense of the system points

“What about the Uno scream thing? Do you have to shout too the number of points you get? This doesn’t make any sense” MJ was examining her cards next to Peter

“You know what? Let’s forget about the points and play like everybody does” The points are actually quite weird and that’s why everybody ignores them

“Deal” The four of them answered at the same time. They are so weird

“Peanut? Would you like to go first?”

“Yeap. No problem” I chose my first card to be a yellow 8. Next to me was Betty and she went for a Red 8, it was Ned’s turn and he dropped a Red 4. It was Peter’s turn, he quickly picked a Red 9, put it on the pile and looked at MJ. She analyzed her cards and then the little pile, after a few seconds she decided to drop a Blue 9. It was quite an eventless round and it was like that for a maybe fifteen minutes. After that, things started to change. It was Peter’s turn and he dropped a +4 card.

“Are you kidding me, Peter?” MJ placed her two cards face down on the table and looked at Peter with amusement

“Oooohhh. This is finally getting spicy” Ned told Betty and me. I wanted to see what could happen

“I’m not letting you win, Em. Sorry” Peter looked everything but sorry

“I can see that! You are a terrible boyfriend” MJ looked indignant taking the 4 cards

“Now it’s getting personal” Betty spoke softly to us

“I’m a terrible boyfriend?! We are competing against each other, no couple rules apply”

“Peter that’s low” Ned was trying not to laugh at their exchange

“That’s no low, that’s clever” Peter was trying to defend himself and it was my turn to play so I helped MJ a little. I dropped a Reverse card and it was MJ’s turn again. She looked at me and I gave her a wink, I may have seen a few of her cards while she did her little tantrum at Peter. She took her card and before placing it on the pile turned to look at Peter. A Skip card was now at the top of the cards and Peter’s face showed his indignation. He had two cards on his hand, he was ready to scream Uno and he couldn’t

“Morgan!” Peter looked at me with even more indignation

“What did I do?”

“You traitor! You knew MJ had that card! You two are plotting against me! What is this? My little sister and my girlfriend ruining my game!” He was such a drama queen

“You just said it, loser. No couple rules in this game” We couldn’t help it, we started laughing at them. The round kept going with some change in colors and Betty giving me a +2 card. We kept playing and MJ took revenge on Peter several times and they made a little drama over who was the bad one and kept playing until Betty won.

“I hate this game” Peter dropped his two cards on the table for everyone to see them

“You sore loser!” MJ dropped her two cards and congratulated Betty

“You are a terrible player” Peter was actually very competitive and hated to lose

“Then let’s solve this tie” I had an amazing idea when I looked at the outside

“What tie? Betty won” Ned wasn’t seeing what I saw. They both have two cards, they played against each other, not with all of us and they were tie

“Yes. But they have two cards each. To know who’s a better player then I DECLARE A SNOWBALL FIGHT!” I started running to the door that leads us to the outside. Grab some snow and waited for the four of them to go out to kick Peter on the head with the ball I had in my hands

“Oh. It’s on, little one! You are going down! But first go find some gloves or you are going to freeze” He was extremely protective and totally right. So I ran back to the house, my gloves were on my room so I had to run the three stairs up, open the drawer on the nightstand and ran back to the beach.

When I walked outside the scene I found was adorable to say the least. Ned and Betty were throwing snowballs at each other while laughing and a little further Peter was on his back on the floor laughing while MJ prepared a huge snowball on her hands. She got ready to throw the ball but Peter got up off the ground

 **“Do _not_** **throw that snowball”** Peter wanted to sound serious but his face was glowing with happiness and fondness

“No? What you gonna do to stop it? Loser” MJ’s voice demanded a challenge and Peter loves a challenge.

“Try me, Cat” New nickname I guess. But that changed MJ’s attitude, not a bad change, her back straightened and her feet started to move like she was floating in the snow. She balanced her snowball on both hands and threw it at Peter. He did a back flip and landed perfectly on his legs, a very Spider-Man move. If he was still trying to hide he was Spidey from MJ, he was doing a terrible job, but MJ didn’t look surprised either. I will have to talk to Peter later about that.

“Snowball fight!!!” My dad screamed and started running to make some snowballs and he threw one at me so I joined the fight with all of them. Soon, all of us were throwing snowballs at each other and laughing. After what seamed two seconds and not half an hour, more snow started to fall. My gloves were wet from the snow and everyone looked frozen but happy. I really love this season, it brings so much happiness to lots of people it’s amazing.

“Ok everyone!!! Let’s go inside! We need to eat something and change clothes” my dad shouted and everyone started to drop the snowballs they had in their hands, except MJ. She threw her snowball at Peter who had his back to her. He turned around and made a small snowball at threw it back at MJ but she moved away and he missed his shot. MJ was laughing so hard she was bent with her hands on her knees, suddenly she dropped to the ground and kept laughing

“Peter? Why is she laughing so much?” I had to ask. I was kinda worried. I have never seen MJ laugh so much

“She is mocking me, but don’t know why specifically” Peter was looking at her fondly

“Your hair is a mess!” MJ was calmer but some giggles escaped her mouth. She was right, Peter’s hair was all curls. He looked like he just got out of the shower and tried (and failed) to make his hair presentable

“Come on MJ. You are delusional, you need some food and warm clothes” He offered his hand to help MJ get up. When she was back on her feet they let go of their hands “You seriously need some warm clothes and something to drink, your hands are freezing”

“Well, the good thing is that **it’s hand holding season** and my brother can be a good boyfriend and hold your hand to help you warm up. Right Ned? **”** Ned turned around and I beckoned him to say yes

“After that weird exchange I’m worried about MJ’s health so please Peter, help my dear best friend to not lose her mind because she is freezing” God, I love Ned with all my heart

A little reluctant Peter offered his hand to MJ and with some visible doubt she took it. They seriously need to act more normal around each other when interacting as a couple if they wanted everyone to believe it. Actually, everyone thinks they are together but they needed to make the effort to keep everyone believing that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typo, will fix it... eventually


	9. Well maybe just a half a drink more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DRUKN KARAOKE!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for posting late but today was my graduation!!! Finally I received my degree in Literary Studies and I can't be happier. So that's why i'm posting so late, I had a small family reunion and tried to post sooner but didn't work out xD   
> Have fun reading!!

**Concept: Ugly Christmas sweater party & ** **Drunkenly singing Mariah Carey**

**Dialogue: “You have frosting on your face” & ** **“If your hands get cold, you can put them in my pockets”**

* * *

_December 23 rd_

“I’m going to change, this clothes are soaking wet” Peter dropped MJ’s hand and started walking to the stairs that lead them to the rooms

“Oh, but we wanted to tell you all something first” Pepper hold him back and called everyone’s attention “Tony and Happy did some food for everyone and we want to have a little party. So go get your Christmas sweaters, the ugly ones, and we will eat and play some games tonight”

“Hopefully drink some actual liquor too” Tony added and everyone laughed softly. The wet clothes were making everyone too much cold to stay on the living room any longer

“Let’s go change before we freeze to death so we can eat and drink” Happy said to everyone and then grabbed May’s hand and started moving up the stairs. Soon they all started moving and Peter saw MJ walk to the kitchen with Morgan. He decided to let them for a moment and change quickly

Twenty minutes later he was back on the living room, trying to find a place to sit on the huge living room. The coffee table was full of warm food and the TV on the wall was on with a random Christmas movie on it. Peter sat next to May, he loves his Aunt and missed her. Their time together was shorter every year thanks to his responsibilities, and family is very important to Peter

“Pete, do you know where Morgan and MJ are?” May asked him while looking around searching for them

“I don’t know. I saw them walking to the kitchen but I’m not sure if they are changing clothes or plotting something against me” his comment made May laugh a little

“Why don’t you try to find them? Check if they are on the kitchen and tell them we are waiting for them” Peter got up from the comfortable couch and walked to the kitchen. When he got there, he found a pretty adorable scene. MJ was wearing a sweater he gave her last year. It was a black sweater with red rhombuses on the sleeves. On the front a red square that had a ginger bread cookie in the middle and a message in capital letters above and under the red square: Bite me. Morgan was wearing a red sweater with green and white stripes on the arms. Two ginger bread cookies had belts and swords, the message above the cookies was Ginjas. Peter loved their sweaters.

“Try to decorate that Christmas tree with the green frosting and then add some pearls to those cookies” MJ had a pastry bag on her hand, some bowls with frosting from different colors and Morgan was directing MJ’s movements on the cookies

“You’re enjoying this too much, Morgan. You are a good leader too, like your parents” Morgan flushed a little

“Thanks MJ. You’re good at following instructions, by the way”

“Not so much may I say” The two girls looked up quickly and he saw MJ had some red dots on her face. Peter started walking towards MJ and stopped right in front of her

 **“You have frosting on your face”** Peter placed his hand left on MJ’s cheek and removed softly the red frosting dots

“How long have you been there?” MJ whispered but he heard her clearly and he noticed they were too close to each other

“Not long. How is the decoration on the cookies going?” He dropped his hand from MJ’s face and spoke softly too, he didn’t want to break the moment

“Better that I thought actually” He didn’t answer her. A comfortable silence fell on them

“Wow. I never felt like I was a third wheel in the middle of anyone other than my parents” They jumped away from each other and turned to look at Morgan

“How are you doing Peanut? Did you help decorating the cookies or just directing MJ?” Peter tried to ignore Morgan’s comment but he bet his last web formula that he was blushing… a lot

“Of course I helped. Look at my cookies” She pointed a plate with said cookies and he was snowmen and snowflakes. They looked really cute “and MJ is doing the trees. We changed very quickly so we could show everyone these cookies” Morgan looked really proud of herself

“Do you plan to let some cookies to Santa? We have to let him some milk and cookies on a table next to the tree” Peter knew Morgan didn’t believe in Santa but he liked the tradition

“I saved a few cookies for that, don’t worry” MJ was back at finishing the decoration on her tree cookies but pointed another plate away from them to show him the cookies she saved for Santa

“You are a sunshine, Em. We have to go! Everyone is waiting for us to start this party” He grabbed the pastry bag from MJ’s hands and placed it on the sink while the girls cleaned their hands and all of them walked to the living room.

“They are here! We can start with the food!” Happy shouted from the other side of the room and everyone grabbed different deserts and snacks from the table. Morgan ran next to her parents and grabbed a plate to pick her food.

The table had roasted parmesan garlic shrimp, tortilla roll-ups, cheese truffles, cranberry meatballs, fried raviolis, walnut blue cheese stuffed mushrooms and different dips and drinks. Peter was impresses with all the food around.

“You cooked all of this?” Peter had to ask Tony and Happy. Everything looked delicious

“I has been improving my cooking skills and Tony wanted to help, so yeah, we did all of this” Happy confirmed what Pepper had said before and peter couldn’t be any prouder of them. Everything was delicious

“Happy made his New Year resolution to learn to cook because May doesn’t have idea how to and Thai food is not good for everyday” Tony mocked Happy and May and she blushed a little. They all knew how bad his Aunt could be on a kitchen but he loves her anyway

“Peter survived pretty good to my cooking skills, right Pete??” May tried to defend herself

“Well thanks to that he learned to cook and is pretty good at it” MJ contributed to the conversation and everyone praised Peter

“You are really good too, Em. Have anyone seen those cookies she made? Amazing!” Peter didn’t like to have all the attention on himself so he moved it to MJ’s cookies. He hadn’t tried them but he was sure they were delicious.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this but _“Ew”._ You both need to stop vomiting unicorns and rainbows at each other. It’s getting gross” Morgan’s comments always made everyone laugh and it served to change the subject back to the food and no-ones cooking skills. After some more chat and laughter the food was running out. Pepper decided to bring wine and eggnog for everyone, some juices and sodas for Morgan. Peter handed some eggnog to MJ and served some wine for him.

“Easy with the eggnog. That thing has been aged for weeks” Pepper warned Betty and MJ that were chatting happily and drinking. Cup after cup they laughed louder every time

“Ned, did you managed to buy Betty’s ring after, you know, I had to sneak out of the store?” Peter hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ned properly since they were on the jewelry store

“Yes! It look’s amazing. I hope she likes it” They were speaking softly just in case someone could hear them

“She is going to love it” Peter wants to support them every step of the way no matter what.

“And I would love if you are my best man. If she says yes, of course”

“She is definitely saying yes, and I’m saying yes too!” They were so engrossed in the conversation they didn’t notice Betty and MJ getting closer to them

“Say yes to what?” The girls asked them at the same time

“Ammm… Karaoke” Ned managed to speak before Peter. He definitely wasn’t good at improvising lies

“YES!!! We all have to play karaoke!” Betty started to jump and took MJ’s hands in hers “We need to sing something together, Em!”

“Betty you know MJ doesn’t sing in public” Peter lived with her and he was used to hear her humming song but never singing

“Then have more eggnog because we are going to sing tonight” Betty handed MJ another cup of eggnog and MJ took it without another word. “Everyone!!! How about we play karaoke?” Betty called everyone’s attention and they were all drunk enough to accept without second thoughts

“Thanks Ned” Peter wasn’t very excited about the karaoke singing, he was a terrible singer

“It was the first thing that crossed my mind. Sorry” MJ heard the boys talking and stopped drinking

“You weren’t talking about playing karaoke?” MJ put her chin on Peter’s shoulder and whispered to his ear

“Nope. It was about Betty’s gift” He turned his head slightly to her to answer but turned back quickly when noticed they almost bump their noses together of how close they were

“Upps. I’m drunk and cold. Don’t we have hot chocolate or something?” MJ didn’t move her chin from Peter’s shoulder. That position wasn’t unfamiliar for them. Like Peter wanted to show MJ a meme and she wasn’t wearing her glasses, what was the normal thing to do? She placed her chin on his shoulder. It was easy, now it was quite intimate

“Do you want me to bring you something warm? **If your hands get cold, you can put them in my pockets,** by the way” When Peter offered that he didn’t think MJ would actually put her hands on his pockets. Like that, it looked like she was hugging him behind

“Relax Peter. Black Cat mode is turned off so I’m not trying to steal something from you” She whispered on his ear again and he noticed his back was totally rigid, he needed to relax. It was just MJ, his best friend/fake girlfriend, all good.

“I know you don’t steal thing because you want to, it’s because you had too. But we will have that conversation later. Sober”

“Thanks Parker” Peter was surprised when he felt MJ’s soft lips on his cheek. It was a fast peck but he knew he was blushing. He felt his neck go red and then his face. MJ was drunk and affectionate, he could handle it

“Who wants to start singing?” Tony was grabbing two microphones in one hand and pointing at everyone with them. The TV had a karaoke mode that was already waiting for the first victim

“ME!!” Betty screamed and jumped to grab the mic from Tony’s hand. She was really drunk “What songs do we have here?” She checked the list until Morgan pointed that if she sang Jingle Bell Rock she could sing along but they had to dance the Mean Girls choreography together. Of course Betty agreed

“MJ come sing with us!” Morgan tried to go for MJ but she just hid behind Peter

“Nope. Not drunk enough for that” MJ dismissed Morgan’s invitation politely and let the girls sing the first song.

The song started and both girls tried to remember the choreography while singing. The singing wasn’t bad, but the choreography was uncoordinated and Tony was trying to tell them how it went and joined the dancing and singing with the girls after a few seconds. Pepper was laughing softly at his husband while the rest of them helped singing

After they finished, everyone clapped for the improvised trio. Now it was May, Happy and Pepper’s turn. They picked Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and when the song started, everyone was surprised of how good Pepper and May were. Their voices combined perfectly and Happy joined at some parts or the song, trying to make harmonies with them. At the end of the song Morgan and Tony got up to cheer and clap at Pepper. She dismissed them and sat back next to Tony who gave her a lovely kiss and said something to her ear that made her laugh softly

Betty took Ned’s hand and told him they were next. Ned took his glass of wine and drink it all at once before grabbing the microphone Betty offered him. Peter noticed MJ had served another cup of eggnog and was drinking it happily while one of her hands was still in Peter’s pocket

“What are we singing bae?”

“Oh. I perfectly know which song we are singing!” Betty started to search for a song and suddenly stopped and looked at Ned “Ready?”

“Oh, God. Peter and MJ are never letting me see the end of this. Let’s do it” Ned laughed nervously but grabbed the microphone with security. When some bells and an acoustic guitar started playing Peter knew what song it was. Betty and Ned started to sing Mistletoe by Justin Bieber.

“You guys are sooooo cheesy!” Peter was, in fact, not letting Ned forget this, ever

They must have should have sung that song before, they sounded too coordinated and knew every little detail of the back voices to be a first time. After the song ended, they all cheered to them and his friends bowed like they just gave and amazing concert on the living room. After them Morgan took the microphone and picked a song. One I’ve Been Missing by Little Mix started and Morgan sang it perfectly. To Peter’s surprise, MJ hummed the song along too while drinking a glass of wine. She wasn’t in the stage of singing just yet apparently, but absolutely getting there.

After Morgan finished her song, they all clapped and Tony decided it was Pepper and his turn to sing together. Tony picked Christmas (Baby please Come Home) and Pepper sang the song while Tony did the back voices and some dancing. Pepper tried not to laugh while singing but couldn’t help it. Tony’s ugly sweater had actual Christmas decorations and while he danced, all the ornaments moved around him. The song was over too soon and everyone cheered again for the duo.

“MJ! Peter! You guys need to sing something together!” Betty pointed at MJ and Peter turned to see her blushing, but at this point he wasn’t sure if it was the wine or she was actually embarrassed.

“Yes!!! You guys need to sing! Please Pete!” Morgan joined Betty and after that everyone was asking them to sing.

“Ok, loser. Let’s do this” MJ removed her hand from Peter’s pocket and grabbed the microphones “Betty, pick a song for us?”

“Oh yes! I have the perfect one” Betty rose from the couch and searched the song on the set list “Ready? You guys know this one. Everybody does”

Baby It’s Cold Outside started and Peter knew it was a duo. MJ looked at Betty and mouthed something to her he couldn’t see, then she went back to look at the TV with the lyrics on it. When a small ball started to bounce above the lyrics, MJ started to sing and he was so surprised she was actually singing that he almost missed his lines.

The song kept playing and everyone was speechless, Michelle was a damn good singer. She never moved her eyes away from the screen but sang every line in a perfect way. When the song ended everyone started clapping and cheering, even Peter. They were very impressed by MJ’s voice.

She moved back to the couch after letting her microphone on the table. Peter followed close by and when they were sitting together again he couldn’t help but stare

“What?” MJ’s voice sounded little, not close to her actual voice

“You sound amazing. You should get out of that pretty head of your more often and sing aloud” Peter wanted to hear her more often. She didn’t answer anything but her smile gave him all the answers he needed it

Ned, Betty and Morgan took the microphones and Like It’s Christmas by The Jonas Brothers started to play. This time Peter sang along too, it was a nice song and he remembered hearing it on a Netflix series. Then he added it to his Christmas playlist. When that song ended Betty went straight to MJ

“You drunk enough to sing with me?” Betty offered MJ the second mic and MJ ended her cup of eggnog and grabbed the microphone from Betty’s hand

“Come on Betty. Let’s get over this” When everyone saw MJ standing up again, they started to clap once more and Peter joined happily. He could hear her singing his whole life. Betty went to a song and without a chance for them to read the title she pressed play.

All I want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey started and Morgan cheered even louder than before. Betty started to sing the first verse and MJ joined a few lines after Betty. MJ was looking at the screen again but Betty held her hand and when MJ turned to see her they sang the chorus together.

It was like all the drinks hit them right there because Betty and MJ turned to the boys and started singing even louder. Even then, MJ didn’t miss a note. Ned stood up and joined Betty. Morgan, May, Happy, Tony and Pepper started to tell Peter to join MJ too. He stood up and MJ held his hand for a while. They started to sing while looking at each other’s eyes, when the song was getting to its end, MJ decided to knock them out by hitting Mariah’s whistle note perfectly for more time that was humanly possible. The song ended and Peter hugged MJ while everyone clapped the girls.

“You are amazing, Michelle Jones” Peter whispered to MJ’s ear and gave her a little peck close to her lips.


	10. Say what's in this drink?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Who would have thought that Spider-Man is such a naughty boy? Santa is not bringing you any presents” MJ’s right hand had moved from his neck to his arm and then to his hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are so close to end this story and I'm so sad but happy at the same time! Thanks again to @spidermanhomecomeme for Promptmas, definitely will do again. I loved the experience and the support

**Concept: Only one bed & Snow angels**

**Dialogue: “Let’s make snow angels” “How old are you?” & “Hey! The cookies were for Santa!”**

* * *

_December 24 th_

The party ended at dawn and everybody started to move to their respective rooms. Betty and MJ were terribly drunk and they kept laughing and singing whatever song they remembered and they knew, or think they knew.

“Ned, let’s take them to bed. They are going to be hangover when they woke up so we better get ready for that” Peter wasn’t drunk because of his accelerated metabolism. Alcohol wasn’t a huge problem for him, or hangovers for the matter

“I’m taking Betty to our room, you should take MJ to yours”

“Ours? You don’t you mean “her room”?” Nobody told Peter about sharing a room with MJ, he was definitely prepared to sleep on the floor if needed. What if he sleeps on the living room and wakes up before everybody does to avoid questions?

“Peter, now we all know you guys are together. It’s not like we are pretending you can’t share a room. That would be pointless” Ned was trying to help Betty go up the stairs but it wasn’t easy since both were on different states of drunkenness

“Yeah. Of course. Totally pointless” MJ wrapped her arms around Peter’s neck and gave him a little peck on the cheek

“Hey loser” Peter saw Ned and Betty finally made it up the stairs and grabbed MJ’s waist to help stabilize her

“Hey you. How you feeling?” Peter noticed MJ breath smelled like all the eggnog they had and maybe half a bottle of wine

“Funny”

“Funny? Not drunk? Maybe sleepy?” She seemed like she had no intentions to go to sleep

“Definitely drunk but not sleepy. I have a lot in my head”

“Can I help with something?” He was softly moving her through the living room and guiding her to the stairs

“Getting out of my head. That would be good” MJ still had her arms around him. It was easier to lead her to the room when she was cooperating and not like Betty that wanted to keep the party going for two more days. Her words, not his

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t believe you are a genius and an idiot, all at the same time. Where are you taking me by the way?” Peter was trying to make sense of MJ’s words, they seemed quite important

“Room” His mind was still processing the party. The karaoke, how close they had been during the party, how he almost kissed MJ at one point after they sang together to Mariah and her recent words. They were moving up the stairs and maybe he understood what MJ said. He had a lot to think about and it would be very useful if she came out of his head

“Who would have thought that Spider-Man is such a naughty boy? Santa is not bringing you any presents” MJ’s right hand had moved from his neck to his arm and then to his hand

“What a shame. Santa brought you a nice present but I have it. If I don’t have any presents then you shouldn’t either” And he definitely shouldn’t be playing along. Peter knew it was a dangerous game

“Did you buy me a gift? What is it?” They were already in their room but MJ was still hugging him so he kept his hands on his waist, making sure they had space between them

“No presents, you said it” MJ started pouting and Peter though she looked really cute. He could definitely kiss her right now, but that was a terrible idea and he knew it “We definitely should go to sleep. Get ready for bed and I will bring you some water and painkillers. You are gonna need them” He moved away from MJ and her arms fell to her sides

“Why don’t you stay?” She had moved fast and soundless to the door and closed it. Peter though of her as Black Cat in that moment. Every move she made felt like a feline surrounding its prey and his senses seemed to pick up that she was up to something, but not a bad thing. It was a different feeling

“You want me to? You can sleep here, I can go back to the living room. It’s fine” Peter tried to take a few steps back to grab his clothes from his bag but she moved closer to him with each step he took back

“You want to go? I wouldn’t mind sharing the bed with you” Peter decided that walking away was pointless so he stand still in the middle of the big room with a queen size bed and a huge closet. He couldn’t answer. He felt he shouldn’t answer. It was one of those ‘everything you say can be used against you’ cases and he didn’t want to risk it. “I had a fun night. Thanks for everything” Peter could only see how she got closer and closer to him.

Something in him made him stare at her and everything seemed to slow down around them. She moved her eyes from his eyes to his mouth and Peter knew exactly what was going to happen, but no matter how much he wanted it, she wasn’t in her five senses and the last thing he wanted was to ruin their friendship for the sake of a kiss. He took MJ’s face in between his hands and placed a little kiss or her right cheek, then the left one and a last one on the tip of her nose.

“Not fair” she said in a soft, almost unintelligible, whisper against his face. He still had his hands on her face

“What’s not fair?” Peter whispered back

“I told you to get out of my head and now you’re probably gonna be there for more time that acceptable” Now Peter understood what she meant and she was right. It wasn’t fair to share this kind of moments and have to pretend nothing happened in two days. She, probably, will be in his head way too much than he needed her to.

MJ took his hands in hers and after a few seconds she released them. Then she moved to the left side of the bed and felt on top of the blankets. After she settled on the bed, covered with a single blanket she made a gesture for Peter to settle next to her on the bed

“You can sleep here, Peter. I don’t mind. We definitely need some rest” Peter moved slowly to the right side of the bed and moved the blanket to get comfortable. He let more than fifteen centimeters between them. He didn’t want to wake up and have MJ kicking his head for invading her personal space.

To his surprise, when he thought MJ was slept, she moved closer and hugged him. He stood still and after a few seconds he heard her breathe slowly on his chest, that was all he needed to get some rest too and let sleep took him over.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We are not dating Betty” MJ needed to tell someone the truth and maybe Betty was the right choice. A few years ago she was a very closed person, walls and walls around her. Never letting people in, but life taught her better. She needed friends and people she could trust in. And this, this was something she couldn’t hold anymore

“What? I don’t believe you” Or maybe she wasn’t the right option. It was 10am and the air was cold around them

“Betty, we are pretending! A few days ago we were shopping with Morgan, Pepper called and asked Peter to bring his girlfriend to meet them and not even Morgan knew about a girlfriend. Then Anthony and Pepper called to invite us, as a couple, to this few days here and I said yes. But we are not even dating, ask Morgan. She knows the truth” Betty’s face showed how confused she was

“Em, I can’t believe any of that! The other day Ned and I talked about you guys. The conclusion was that Peter and you were on a relationship without even knowing” MJ tried to hug herself a little. It was a good idea to talk to Betty but maybe not outside with snow falling

“What do you mean?”

“Em… the movie night, the shopping with Morgan, the coffee shop he took you to, the skate rink, this few days… You guys act like it’s not even hard to pretend, you just are in the relationship dynamic and it’s so natural you didn’t noticed” Betty tried to explain to MJ as it was the most logical and obvious thing in the universe, but MJ didn’t have a clue what she was talking about

“Betty those wasn’t dates. I’m sorry you don’t have male friends to have… Aammm, friendly outings” Betty looked very unimpressed at MJ’s comeback

“Ok whatever. Then why are you both behaving like this? Why pretend and not be here just like friends? What about last night?” MJ was terribly drunk but not like she didn’t remember anything, in fact, she remembered every bit of the night. And she didn’t regret it but she wasn’t ready to face the consequences either

“Ugh! Don’t talk about last night!” This was exactly why she needed to talk to Betty but at the same time why she was afraid of said conversation “Betty, remember when we were in high school and you got me the hard way that I had a tiny crush on Peter?”

“Oh God, yes! It was so obvious and you didn’t want to admit it. Frustrating” Betty hugged her mug filled with hot chocolate and a few marshmallows

“Well, maybe that little tiny tiny crush is still there and last night was… a thing. I almost kissed him and I woke up like an octopus all over him and I said a few things that maybe I’m too embarrassed to admit now” Betty’s face went from shock, to containing a laugh in a few seconds

“That’s why you are hiding outside the house while having this conversation with me?”

“Betty you are my best friend. I just needed to get it out of my chest. I know I will have to go inside and have a long conversation with Peter about… a few things, but I need my head to be clearer. Any advice?”

“Always the truth, Em. Talk to him, talk about all your things and stop this nonsense or admit you both have feelings for each other and make this shit formal or whatever. Remember we are not in high school anymore” MJ knew Betty was right, they needed to talk. She needed to tell him about why she was Black Cat, why Rhino was a big problem and why he was always surrounded by other people all the time, and yes, she needed to talk to him about her feelings or their friendship was doomed

“Thanks Betty” 

“You just wanted to hear me saying what you already knew” Maybe Betty was right, she knew that a long conversation between Peter and her was a real thing and maybe she wanted to get it out of her chest to make all her feelings and thoughts real and then she could tell Peter everything

“Then thanks again” she was really grateful with her friend

“When is this conversation going to happen?” She couldn't lose the courage that seemed to invade her in that instant, so she made a decision

“Now. I need to talk to him right now”

“If you need anything, I’m here for you”

MJ helped Betty to get up from the bench they were sitting in. They made their way to the cabin again and walked to the kitchen. Morgan was sitting on the breakfast table. She had a glass of milk and a few of the cookies that they decorated were on a little plate next to her milk

 **“Hey! The cookies were for Santa!”** MJ told Peter she had saved some cookies for Santa but apparently Morgan had other plans

“Oh, no. It’s fine. These aren’t the same cookies you left for Santa. Its fine, Em” Morgan kept chewing her cookies while looking at the girls “Hangover?”

“Like hell” Betty answered and moved to the sink to wash her mug

“Not that bad. Peter gave me tons of water and painkillers as soon as I woke up” Peter was such a good friend, MJ appreciated that more than anything

“Speaking of which. He told me to tell you that he needs you. He’s probably with my dad and Ned at the back of the house”

“Thanks Morgan. See you Betty” MJ walked through the house. She needed to speak to Peter about everything before it was too late

“Hey MJ!!” May walked out from one of the rooms and scared MJ a little

“Oh! Hey May”

“I know we have met for a long time but I’m really happy you and Peter are together. He has a lot on his bag and knowing you are there for him is amazing. You both are so good for each other. Harold and I just wanted to say that” That’s exactly why they needed to talk. Everyone was going to be so sad about them not being together or finding out they “broke up” or worst, that everything was a lie

“He makes me really happy too. I’m on my way to find him”

“Then I’m not stopping you, love birds”

“Thanks May”

MJ kept walking thinking about what May told her, maybe they were good for each other, but as friends or more than friends? She needed to clarify that now. When she crossed the house to a backyard, she found Ned and Peter sitting together while talking. MJ tried to make some noise so they knew she was there. But as soon as she opened the door, Peter turned around to see her

 **“** Hey MJ! **Let’s make snow angels”** His eyes were so bright MJ couldn’t even make fun of him like she could

 **“How old are you?”** Ned answered Peter with a line that MJ could have use if she wasn’t so focused on Peter

“I actually will love that. I have never made snow angels” The two boys gasped at her comment

“We need to correct that immediately” Peter lifted from the ground and ran the small distance to MJ then grabbed her hand and lead the way somewhere with enough snow to do the snow angels. They both lied down on the floor and regret it. It was too cold and wet to be there but she was having fun. She was feeling happy.

MJ saw Ned get inside the house and call for Betty. She was there in a matter of seconds and they lied down next to Peter and MJ. Peter and Ned started moving their legs and arms to form the snow angels. Betty and MJ followed them between laughs and shivers from the cold snow. After that MJ knew that no matter what happened between her and Peter, they were always going to be friends and everyone in that house was going to support them


	11. Gosh, your lips look delicious!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fancy family dinner. Peter asks MJ why she is stealing money and MJ tells him about a little guy involved in her superhero adventures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the reason this whole fic exists! I had a very clear image of a conversation between MJ and Peter about their alter-egos and this huge fic started there. It's almost the end and I have to thank again @elbris for all your kind and lovely comments! I will love to talk to you one day   
> To all of you reading this fic, have a Happy Christmas Eve, have some fun with your families and let's hope the next year brings us all health and lots of success :D

**Concept: Mistletoe kisses**

**Dialogue: “Usually it’s just a kiss under the mistletoe” & “It’s that… mistletoe?”**

* * *

_December 24 th _

After a few minutes making snow angels, they decided it was a good time to grab something to eat so they got inside the house to change clothes, warm up a little and eat with the rest of the group. MJ and Peter entered their room while Ned and Betty did the same.

“I’m going to take a bath, I’m freezing. You can change or shower here I’m using the bathroom from the hallway” Peter left before MJ could tell him they needed to talk

MJ took her time taking a hot shower. The snow angels were fun until you were totally wet and freezing wanting to drink something warm and have a huge fluffy blanket around you. Her jeans, white shirt, a blue coat, her underwear and converses were discarded on the bathroom’s floor. Every bathroom had at least one fluffy bathrobe and MJ loved hers. She turned off the shower and wrapped herself in the robe. She didn’t have clothes in the bathroom so she needed to grab some from her bag. When she opened the door Peter was already in the room. Apparently he forgot his clothes too.

“Oh! Sorry, I forgot my clothes before my shower” Peter apologized but MJ wasn’t sure about what

“It’s fine. I forgot mine too” MJ moved on her tiptoes to her bag. There was a tension in the room that wasn’t there a few days ago. Maybe because they never got inside each other’s rooms and now they were sharing one. Or maybe the fact they were just wrapped in fluffy white bath ropes and totally ignoring last night’s events

“I’m going to change in the bathroom, you can change here if you want” Peter offered MJ after he collected some clothes

“Yeah. That would be… nice. Thanks” Well, apparently her brain was on resting mode these days when she got close to Peter

MJ waited until Peter closed the bathroom door to change her clothes as fast as she could. She had a nice dress on her bag and decided to wear it. It was a beautiful white dress with floral designs. The dress was knee length and had a deep v neck on the front. The only problem was the zipper, she couldn’t close all of it. While she was trying to close the half top of the zipper on the dress, there was a knock on the bathroom door

“Are you ready? Can I go out?” Peter asked from inside the bathroom

“Am I ready? Kind of… Aammm… I’m struggling a little with a zipper, can you help me?” She took some white flat shoes and moved closer to the bathroom door but Peter didn’t open the door or answer her question “Peter?”

“Yeah?” MJ was sure she had imagined how deep his voice sounded with the question

“Can you help me?”

“Yeah” When he opened the door MJ had to take a look at Peter twice. He was wearing a light gray drill pants with a white shirt, he tried to make the outfit a little informal wearing black sneakers and left the shirt a little unbuttoned at the top. After a few seconds of MJ pretending to be perfectly good with Peter looking that good she turned around so he could help her pulling up the zipper from her dress

“I couldn't get the full zipper up” MJ knew she was tense. It wasn’t the first time she had seen Peter looking good on some drill pants or him helping her pulling up a zipper of a dress, but the circumstances were totally different from a few years, months and even weeks before. MJ tensed more when she felt Peter’s left hand on her waist, holding the dress in place to make easier pulling the zipper up.

A million years happened before the zipper got to her neck, or that’s what MJ felt. That and one of Peter’s fingers ran through her skin before getting covered for the dress. When Peter was done, he put both hands on her shoulders

“Now we are ready for the fancy dinner” MJ shook her head nodding a few times. She was speechless after so much contact and Peter looking like that on those stupid pants. Her hair was wet and her curls were framing her face. She wasn’t going to dry her hair, she was going to trust the hair conditioner to control the curls “Michelle, you look pretty”

“Therefore I have value?” MJ saw Peter’s face went from a slight blush to pale in two second after her comment

“No! That’s not what I meant…” He was trying to explain to her so she decided the joke was over

“I’m messing with you” MJ had a laugh a little at Peter’s face “You look… pretty, too. We should go, they are probably waiting for us” MJ opened the door that lead to the hallway followed by Peter. They got to the dining room on the kitchen and everyone cheered when they showed up.

“Finally!!! What were you guys doing that took you so long?” May went to hug MJ and Peter at the door of the kitchen. Stopping them from fully entering the room

“I don’t want to know what they were doing. Thank you” Ned answered May before they could.

“Ned! Leave them alone! They didn’t take that long. Maybe they were just chatting” Betty send some meaningful looks at MJ and she understood what she meant. The conversation they had pending. MJ looked at Betty and move her head trying to tell her that they haven’t talk yet

“Peter?” Morgan turned everyone’s attention to her calling her big brother

“Yes, peanut? Need anything?” Peter tried to move from MJ’s side but Morgan didn’t let him

“No! I’m good. Can you look at the top frame of the door, please?” MJ and Peter looked up after a small look between them

 **“It’s that… mistletoe?”** Peter asked softly to MJ

“Yeap” MJ answered making a pop sound at the end. Maybe they could get rid of this situation without actually kissing

“Just get over it. I don’t know how that got there but every couple did it. You are the last ones” Happy told them like it was such an easy task. Maybe if they were together it could be easy. MJ looked at Betty begging for help

“Just a little peck, come on guys!” Betty said looking at MJ with an ‘It’s now or never’ kinda look

 **“Usually it’s just a kiss under the mistletoe.** You don’t need the full ritual” Anthony was making fun of the situation. They probably looked terribly stressed for the situation

“Full ritual?”

“What ritual, dad?” Pepper and Morgan asked at the same time looking at Anthony

“Yeah. Different societies saw mistletoe as peace, fertility, love and even health. But I will tell you all the stories after those lovebirds kiss” Tony dismissed more questions about the history of mistletoe and now everyone was looking at them, waiting.

“Come on Peter. It’s not a big deal, just a little peck and they will let it go” MJ turned to look at Peter who looked totally pale. It was a big deal but they had to talk about many things and if that turned out well then maybe they were going to be able to do it again without all the baggage they had right now.

“Sure?” Peter whispered close to MJ and she was speechless once again. She nodded a little and felt Peter’s breathe on her face. Sometimes she forgot Peter grew up a few inches taller than her at some point so she found herself looking up at him, noses almost touching.

They moved forward at the same time, moving their heads to the right. MJ closed her eyes as soon as she felt Peter’s lips on hers. The kiss didn’t last more than three seconds. They backed a little and while MJ opened her eyes she heard everyone talking happily but she didn’t get the words they were saying. All she wanted was to feel Peter’s lips on her, but this time a little longer than before. So she did

She placed her hands on each side of Peter’s face to pull him closer. As soon as they lips met again he placed his hands gently on MJ’s waist. His lips were soft against hers, not fully pressing them together. She felt like he was waiting for her to do something she felt comfortable with, not to cross any lines she didn’t want to cross.

MJ decided to go all the way with the kiss, because maybe Betty was right, it was now or never, they could talk about it later. She opened her mouth a little, allowing Peter to taste her. When she was already putting the tip of her tongue in his bottom lip, someone shout at them

“Oh, for God’s sakes! Get a room!” Ned shouted at them and they jumped away from each other as far as the door frame allowed them.

“Shut up, dork!” MJ finally entered the room and found a free chair next to Betty. A few seconds after she sat, Peter sat down in front of her. Time to pretend that kiss was definitely not their first kiss between them, but MJ was too flustered to even talk to Betty

“Is everything ok? You look like you want to run away or maybe you want to pass out” Betty tried to call MJ’s attention but she couldn’t drive her eyes away from Peter. If she looked like she wanted to run away definitely was a running away with Peter if the way he was looking at her was a solid clue of what they both wanted.

“I’m good”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The diner was amazing. 150 minutes of pure torture and delicious food that some amazing chef did for all of them. MJ and Pepper found tasty options for them with vegan food while the others enjoyed their meals. When they were finishing the desserts, Morgan started to say they should go to sleep so they could wake up early to open their presents.

“You know what, Morgan? I totally agree with you! Let’s all go to our rooms and we can open the presents sooner” MJ tried not to laugh at Peter’s comment. She could feel his leg bouncing and she bet Ned, who was sitting next to Peter, could feel it too. Ned spoke softly in Peter’s ear and their postures changed, they were definitely up to something

MJ noticed that Ned was rubbing his hands on his pants nervously. Suddenly he stood up from his chair and looked at Betty. Peter smiled a little and his leg stopped bouncing, his hands were hidden under the wood table.

“Betty” Ned spoke with such security everybody turned to look at him and went silent

“Yeah?” Betty spoke softly and her back straightened

“We have been dating for so long someone can think the feelings have changed from the first time I saw you on school” Pepper gasped and placed her hand on his mouth, May started to tear up a little, Morgan pulled her phone and started recording and MJ looked at Peter asking him with her eyes if it was what she thought it was happening and Peter confirmed it with a little nod “I still remember seeing you every day on the hallways and some classes and one day I told Peter that you were the most beautiful girl in the world and that I would be the luckiest man alive if you spend a minute with me. Now we have been together so long but I can’t wait to see you every day and every morning and every night for the rest of my life. If you let me”

Ned opened his hand to Peter and he pulled his hands from under the table with a little red box. Ned took it carefully and rounded the table to get to Betty. He offered his hand to her to help her stand up. Betty was already covered in tears and had a red nose. Anyway, to MJ she looked adorable.

“Elizabeth Brant” After saying her full name, Ned got down on one knee and Betty sobbed harder “Will you marry me?” Ned dropped Betty’s hand to open the little box revealing a beautiful golden ring with little emeralds and a diamond in the center. MJ had to clean a single tear that escaped her right eye

“Of course I’ll marry you Edward!” Betty said right after Ned opened the box and she threw herself to his arms and kissed him on the lips.

Everyone around cheered while Tony and Happy offered some tissues to Pepper and May. Morgan was still filming while Ned stood up and putted the ring on Betty’s finger. Peter walked around the table and stood next to MJ.

“You knew about this” MJ wasn’t asking. She was sure they have planned all of this

“And you interrupted us while we were buying the ring” Peter whispered to MJ but she could tell he was half joking half serious

“What do you mean?”

“Let me remind you my little encounter with Rhino a few days ago. Where Prowler appeared to have a nice chat with you and then you took Ned out after a car almost crushed him. We were buying the ring that day” Peter took MJ’s hand to move her away from all the hugs and tears from the girls and the handshakes from the boys

“We seriously need to talk about that… and other things. I was chatting with Prowler but not in a friendly way, I needed information. Now I get why Ned was holding that little bag like his life depended on it” MJ wasn’t looking at Peter but she felt his eyes on her all the time

“We do need to talk. Let’s congratulate the couple, Betty can show you the ring we picked and we can go talk somewhere else” Peter didn’t wait for an answer. He took her hand and led her back to Ned and Betty. He went to hug Ned and they spoke for a while. In the meantime MJ hugged Betty and congratulated her

“I’m really happy for you Betty! We were talking about the possibility of all this and it was a still a surprise!” A few days ago while they were doing pizza, Betty told MJ about Ned and her talking about buying a cute house and maybe a wedding but they never thought it would be this fast

“Look at the beautiful ring!” Betty extender her delicate hand to MJ and she looked at the beautiful ring once again. It was a plain ring with a little braid on both sides of the diamond and six little emeralds completed the ring.

“It’s beautiful Betty. I can believe Ned _and_ Peter actually picked this ring for you”

“Peter was there?” Betty was surprised too. The two losers picking jewelry? And nice jewelry? A total surprise

“Yeah, he just told me about that day”

“You are going to be my maid of honor, right Em?” Betty was looking at MJ with bright eyes and of course she was going to be there for her best friend on the most important day of her life

“No if you make me wear those awful pastel dresses that people use in weddings” MJ was joking and Betty knew it so they laughed at the comment

“I’m sorry ladies but we have to go. Betty, congratulations! I hope you guys keep having a very happy life together” Peter hugged Betty and give a little peck on her cheek and took MJ’s hand. He started moving away from everyone, saying their goodnights and telling Pepper that the menu was amazing and the food delicious and other formalities.

When they managed to get out of the kitchen Peter walked faster. MJ thought they were going to their room but apparently he had other plans

“Where are we going?”

“Rooftop”

“Of course” MJ had learned a lot from knowing that Peter is Spider-Man. His safe place was whatever rooftop he could get to and he definitely wasn’t a man of patience. Once they arrived he let MJ’s hand go and invited her to sit next to him on the edge of the cabin

“Where do we start?” Peter voiced what she was thinking. They needed to get the thing with Rhino, Prowler and Octopus out of the way first

“One day a kid appeared in the lawyer’s office and said something about his uncle having some weird tech and he was afraid he could get in trouble for that and wanted help in case it was illegal. Of course nobody payed attention but something made me go to him and I decided to invite him for something to eat so he could tell me this story about his uncle” It was the first time MJ talked about how she became Black Cat and it was easier that she thought, maybe because it was Peter “He lives with his parents, they are a lovely family. Rio and Jefferson take care of him like any other parent would, so I cut the possibility of him getting attention because they weren’t treating him correctly. He speaks so fondly of them it’s amazing to see. He remind me a little of you. He is a nerd, he cares too much, loves science, wants the world to be a better place for everyone. And that’s why he came to the office”

“How old is he?”

“He is older than Morgan but not much. He is 12. One day he was visiting his uncle, Aaron Davis, and found some kind of weapon along with some papers he didn’t quite understand but he knew they were important. He took a few photos and showed me the papers. They are trying to create clones from supers. They designed some formulas to make super soldiers like Capitan America but of course they turned out terribly wrong. You know most of them, Green Goblin, Rhino, Prowler, all of them just want power but while they do that, they hurt people.”

“I recognize the name of the kid’s uncle. I crossed paths with Aaron Davis like a year after I became Spider-Man and he did mentioned having a nephew. What’s the kid’s name?”

“Miles. His name is Miles Morales. And he was right, his uncle is doing illegal stuff but nobody wants to pay attention because there are big heads after all of them” It was the first time MJ talked about Miles with his name, she always protected him while exposing the case to different people

“Who?”

“Dr. Conrad Markus and Dr. Otto Octavius. Markus is behind the idea of clones and Octavius behind the obsession for supers. Aleksei Sytsevich aka Rhino and Aaron Davis aka Prowler, got involved with Markus and Octavius. Their idea of becoming more than regular citizens was all they needed to get involved. Now they have designed tech to cause massive damage wherever they are. So one day I was talking to Miles and he told me he wanted to be like those superheroes that dress up with a suit and stop the bad guys. So I did it”

“That’s how you became Black Cat”

“Exactly. I designed the leather suit and Miles came up with amazing ideas for me. The idea was to steal as much money and equipment as we could from them but I needed to be fast, agile, strong and the most important, imperceptible. I had claws to attach to walls, some mountaineering equipment, a very nice pair of lenses I stole from Markus that let me see far away and I actually can see different spectrums which is really cool”

“Why the name?” MJ had to laugh a little at how her name was born

“One day I was fully dressed in the leather suit with the wig and the mask and I found a few security wards on Markus lab and I turned off the cameras, the microphones and definitely kicked some asses there. The last one told me I looked like a black cat and he didn’t know how but I have managed to bring them enough bad luck for a year. I told Miles about it and he started calling me Black Cat. That’s how it started”

“He seems like a really nice kid”

“He is. Every time he risks going to his uncle's house it gets on my nerves. Aaron loves Miles but I don’t know what he would do if he finds out Miles is stealing information from him to help me steal money and equipment from them so I can frustrate their plans”

“What about a few days ago, the park and then the Rockefeller center?”

“They already know I exist but they don’t know I’m stealing from them. The information they have is basically what Spider-Man knew about me. Someone stealing money from time to time that maybe they can recruit for they little clan. I needed information about their plans, but you ruined it”

“Me? Why me?”

“Peter, they saw Black Cat and Spider-Man going away from a fight together. They are not going to trust me anymore with information about anything. They are probably thinking we work together but if they read the tabloids, they may be thinking we are together, as a couple”

“Aren’t we?” MJ covered her face with her hands and they laughed softly

“Like pretended or for real? Because I have no idea anymore” MJ was seeing her breathe become visible every time she spoke

“Ok. We have covered your secret identity subject. Which, I have to say, is amazing and I would love to meet Miles one day”

“He totally loves Spider-Man. You are gonna meet him, soon. I promise”

“Also what you do it’s amazing. I’m sorry for judging you, I freaked out a little with the whole situation. Now I can say I respect and admire you even more than I did a few minutes ago. And I would love to share with you how I became Spider-Man, but maybe when we get home. It’s a long story”

“Thanks loser. I would love to hear your story too, whenever you are ready to tell me, of course” Peter grabbed MJ’s hand one again. His hands were warm and they weren’t soft, she could picture him now, climbing up walls, holding his webs from building to building, punching villains every now and then “How on earth I never saw you beaten up? I have seen the news Peter, you got into pretty bad fights with Rhino lately” She haven’t noticed but she was caressing Peter’s hands between hers

“Remember I send you a few messages of me ‘getting out early’ or ‘having a last minute meeting with Tony’? Well, I was probably recovering in the Avengers Facilities after a fight”

“How is your investigation on Rhino going? I remember seeing some notes on your board the other day…” She couldn’t finish her sentence because Peter pulled her closer to him and kissed her. It wasn’t a soft kiss like the first one, it was filled with urgency, unspoken words and even lost time. After a few minutes they had to pull apart, damn the need of air.

“I really like you, Em”

“I really like you too, loser”

MJ felt like she was a teenager again. Her heart was beating fast and she was sure he could hear it, her hands were trembling a little and she didn’t know what to say. And apparently Peter didn’t know either, they were just looking at each other like it was the first time. After a moment they just started laughing. MJ turned her face away from Peter and looked at the ocean, it was a beautiful view.

“You want to go to sleep? It’s getting late” Peter stood up from the edge of the rooftop and offered his hand to MJ

“Yeah. That would be nice. I like this dress but I’m freezing here” MJ forgot to bring a jacket or coat with her and now she was craving a warm blanket

“You look amazing” She stood up with Peter’s help and they started walking back to the inside of the house

“Thanks, again”

When they got to their room MJ took one of Peter’s shirts and went to the bathroom to change. She had a little bit of trouble with the zipper but managed to pull it down by her own. When she was ready she did the same Peter had done early. She knocked the door and asked him if he was ready. After she came out of the bathroom, she lay down on the bed next to Peter who was texting on his phone

“Karen tells me the investigation is going good. The formula I design for some webs can help with Rhino. The formula is basically chemicals that can affect his armor, the corrosion should do the magic once and for all” After he stopped talking MJ got close to him and placed her head on his chest

“Night loser” MJ whispered and Peter kissed her head softly. After a few seconds she was asleep in his arms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking for a beta for my fics (including this one) so if you are interested, you can find me on tumblr @drunk-onsunlight  
> I want to write more and improve my written english since it's not my first language. Again, lots of love and have a wonderful day. See you tomorrow with the last chapter


	12. Baby, It's cold outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang wish you all a Merry Christmas. Enjoy some presents unwrapping and some final battle with a few villains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!!!! Hope you all enjoyed this fic as much as I enjoyed writting it. All your love and comments are hugely appreciated

**Concept: Opening presents**

**Dialogue: “Merry Christmas” & “Do you like it?” “I love it” & “Why are you staring at me?” “Nothing… you just look really cute right now”**

* * *

_December 25 th _

Peter is awakened by a knock on the door. He can hear someone speaking but he is too sleep to comprehend what it’s happening. He snuggles further into the warm and goes back to sleep but a few moments later someone kept knocking on the door.

“Damn. Who’s not getting the idea that I want to sleep late?” MJ said and pulled Peter closer

“PETER! MJ! WE NEED TO OPEN THE GIFTS!!!! COME ON!! WAKE UP!!!” Now Peter got who was calling their door

“We should go, Em. She is going to throw that door if we don’t go out” Peter yawn and MJ stretched out on the bed

“Hey peanut” Peter opened the door and Morgan ran to the bed and started jumping on it

“WE CAN OPEN THE PRESENTS NOW! LET’S GO! MJ WAKE UP”

“I’m awake. We can go!” MJ did her best getting out of bed with Morgan jumping on the bed

Peter took a hoodie from his bag before joining Morgan and MJ to the living room. Everyone was already there but nobody looked fully awake, just Morgan.

“Morning everyone” Peter said hi and everyone mumbled a few things back at him

“Do we have coffee?” MJ was looking at everything on the coffee table

“Yes. We have some here” Happy offered them two mugs with warm coffee and they took it

“Can we open the presents now mom? We are all here!” Morgan was jumping next to the tree. Peter haven’t noticed but the tree was actually full of packages

“Yeap. You can distribute them and open yours” After Pepper gave her approval, Morgan grabbed the gift that was closer to her.

“This one is from Peter to my dad” Morgan handed the package to tony and he started opening it

“Aww. This is so cute! Thanks Pete. I’m putting them on the lab” Tony placed the Iron Man and Spider-Man plushies next to him on the couch. Morgan picked a second package

“This one is for Uncle Happy” He received the big present and opened it

“Morgan this is amazing! Thank you little one” Happy started to show May all the bakery supplies Morgan got him. Then she grabbed two presents and hand it them to May and Pepper. They opened broke the paper and opened the shoe boxes Morgan got for them. May gasped at the heels and Pepper kissed Morgan’s check to thank her

“This little one is from Peter to Betty” Betty took the little box and when she opened she found a blue bridal hair comb. The comb was silver with little silver and sapphire blue leaves

“Peter this is beautiful. Thank you so much!” When Ned tried to look at what was in the box Betty closed it “You can’t see it yet, Ned”

“Morgan helped me find it. I thought you would need something blue” Morgan lifted another package and announced that it was from Tony to Pepper. Pepper took the letter size package, everyone was expecting Pepper to open it and when she did, two plain tickets to India

“India?” Morgan read and asked her dad

“India like Uttaranchal because your mom haven’t stop talking about how much she would like to go to that amazing place where they have yoga and meditation classes and a beautiful spa. So yes, India”

“You were actually paying attention to my rambling about Uttaranchal”

“I’m always paying attention to you. No matter what you’re doing or what I’m doing” Pepper kissed Tony and thanked him for the trip. They do needed to relax a little bit

Morgan kept grabbing presents and giving them to their respective owners. Happy gave May a beautiful pearl necklace and May gave Happy a gastronomic tour for New York. Betty gave Peter a new lens for his camera and Ned gave Peter a new intercom for the suit. Morgan gave his dad her present and he totally loved it and even told Pepper he was going to wear those Iron Man shorts to their trip. Pepper gave Tony a free pass to get as many cheese burgers as he wanted over the year. Then Morgan found one of her presents

“This is for me!!” She started to tear the wrapping paper and found the Rescue helmet she used to wear a few years back as a toy

“We talked and decided it’s time for you to have it” Pepper explained to Morgan when she looked at them trying to find an explanation “You are always with your dad on the lab, you played with this a few years back. We think it’s time for you to have it. I can’t take that away from you”

“That doesn’t mean you can start using it now. You will need training and mentoring. It’s just an approval of what you can and eventually will do” After Tony and Pepper talked Morgan threw herself at them and kissed their checks

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Peter can be my mentor, dad? And you of course!”

“I would love that peanut” Peter offered his help and Morgan blew him a kiss. Morgan went back to the gifts. MJ gave Betty a swimsuit and Ned gave her tickets to the Philippines to meet the rest of his family. MJ also gave May and Happy and Pepper and Tony some spa reservations. After a while, Morgan noticed there were missing presents

“Peter. Where is MJ’s present? Please tell me you didn’t forget to pick it up”

“No I didn’t forget it. It’s on my pocket” He pulled a small round box from his hoddie and gave it to MJ

 **“Merry Christmas, Em”** MJ opened the box and found a necklace. A black glass Dahlia was between a soft fabrics. She took it out of the box and the Dahlia shinned in front of her. She didn’t say anything and Peter was starting to worry about it, maybe she didn’t like it

 **“Do you like it?”** He had to ask or he was going to die of embarrassment right there in front of everyone. Peter was overthinking about the necklace until MJ finally spoke

 **“I love it”** MJ moved her eyes from the necklace to Peter and without another word gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “My present for you is quite confidential so I have it in my bag” Everyone was looking at them with soft eyes and Morgan was too focused on the last gifts there were under the tree. All of them were for here. May gave her a dress Morgan saw on internet and wanted to get. Pepper gave her the same free pass she gave to Tony so they could go together without Tony sharing his pass. May and Happy gave her some science equipment she could use to not monopolize his dad’s lab and start her own.

After they finished open all the presents, Peter noticed MJ didn’t gave Morgan a present

“Morgan, can you come with me please? Peter, come with us?” MJ called Morgan and the two girls walked out of the living room with Peter close by. MJ lead them to their room and closed the door behind them

“Morgan, remember what I told you about trusting people with big secrets?” MJ asked Morgan while looking for something on her bag

“Yeap” Morgan nodded while looking at MJ

“Well, I have something to tell you. For me trust is a huge gift that I don’t give to everyone. And what I’m about to share with you, I hope will be part of your new journey with the nice suit your parents gave you” Right there, Peter understood what was on her bag

“Have you heard something about someone people is calling Black Cat?” MJ asked and Morgan turned to look at Peter

“She knows who I am Peanut” Morgan showed how surprised she was at the information and nodded to MJ

“I know she was stealing some money and things from other people but I saw her on the news a few days ago. She wasn’t hurting anyone and she left with you Peter” As much as she talked, Morgan started to realize what was happening “You are Black Cat, MJ”

“I am. And I know you have seen some things but I’m doing it to help” While MJ spoke, she pulled her leather suit out of her bag along with a folder full of papers “This is your present Peter” She handed him the folder and he found a way of ending Prowler along with his fellows.

“This folder has all the documents you need to put them in jail. I can’t do it or they will link all of this to Miles but you can do it. If you knock them like last time and enough time for the police to get them, they are going to jail and we will be fine, Miles will be save” Peter overlooked the papers and found bank statements, mails and chats with Dr. Ock’s plans.

“Who’s Miles?” Peter and MJ forgot that Morgan was still with them until she spoke. When they looked at her, she was wearing MJ’s Black Cat mask and wig

“A friend. The reason behind all I did. The equipment and money I stole, it was all to keep him save”

“Thank MJ. This will be really helpful. Maybe I can take it to the lab and tell Karen to scan this and send the docs to the cops once I get them” Morgan was going to say something more but Peter and MJ’s phones started ringing. They shared a look and took their phones out of their pockets

“Manhattan. Rhino’s back and not alone” Peter showed MJ someone’s photo from Manhattan that showed Rhino and Prowler together. They were trying to destroy a building

“You have to go Pete?” Morgan took of the wig and mask and handed them to MJ

“Yeah Peanut, I’m calling the helicopter for my venom formula and letting Karen scan this files”

“I’m going with you” MJ grabbed her leather suit and got to the bathroom to change

“You have your suit here, right Peter?” Morgan walked to the door and after Peter gave her a confirmation she closed the door behind her. Two minutes later MJ came out of the bathroom with her suit, mask, wig and belt on.

“Ready?” Peter looked at her and he froze. He always looked at Black Cat in the dark and the last fight let him so shock he didn’t take a close look at her. The suit embraced all her curves, her long legs were even longer with the high heels she was wearing and now the mask did nothing to hide her brown eyes. MJ noticed he hadn’t said anything in a while snapped her fingers in front of him “Peter? Spider-Man?”

“Sorry. I’m ready. I called the helicopter, we let the file on the scanner, take the web formula and we will be in Manhattan in five minutes by far”

“Then let’s go. No time to waste” Peter took his mask from the bed and took MJ’s hand before going out of their room. Their went down the stairs and found everyone on the living room looking at the TV

“Tony we are leaving. Ned I need you on the intercom with me. May, everything it’s going to be fine. I promise. We have a plan” When Peter and MJ looked at everyone Peter found lots of shocked faces

“MJ?” Betty was looking at MJ with big eyes, like she couldn’t believe what was in front of her. MJ froze and looked at everyone on the living room, the only normal faces were Tony, Ned and Morgan

“I can explain, but not now. We have to go. Betty I promise I will tell you everything when we come back”

“I knew about Peter, but you?” Peter looked at Ned with lots of questions between them “He didn’t tell me. I’m a journalist, I’m not blind and you guys don’t speak as soft as you think”

“Now I’m offended I didn’t find out being your roommate” When they left the house, the helicopter was already waiting for them.

Once in the helicopter the facilities were a few minutes away from them. MJ had the folder and as soon as they landed, they took it to lab and while Peter grabbed the formula and the special web shooters, the chemicals were strong enough to damage his normal web shooters, MJ put the files into the scanner and told Karen to send the files to the police when Peter told her to.

“Peter, doesn’t someone need to change the files or pages on the scanner? Karen can’t do that”

“Karen can’t, but Dum-E can” Peter ran to the lab next to his and brought some mechanical arm with him and gave the arm the order of changing the pages or flick the pages if needed “Don’t mess this up Dum-E. I trust you!” The arm did a few bip sounds and started working. Peter walked to the front door and MJ followed him close by.

“Should we arrive together?”

“No, you go first. I need to make sure they don’t see me coming. You will be fighting Rhino and Prowler but we still have to go after the others. If Dr. Ock shows up, I will tell you” Peter gave MJ a short kiss before putting his mask and swing away from her. She waited a few minutes and started moving between building too.

Peter asked Karen for Rhino’s location and as soon as he got it, he swayed faster to the point a little map in his mask showed him. There weren’t a lot of citizens on the streets, but cops and reporters were everywhere

“Rhino, seriously? I was having a good time. Let me guess, Santa didn’t bring you a present and now you are mad” All Peter got was some grunts from Rhino. He took the opportunity to shoot some of the venom webs at his mouth and face. The chemicals started to ruin Rhino’s armor just like Peter had expected

“Michelle is dealing with Prowler, Peter” Karen spoke in his mask and Peter tried to shoot some webs to weak points that Karen showed him

“Ned?”

“Right here Peter” Ned spoke clearly in his ear. The new intercom worked pretty well

“Can you see what MJ is doing?”

“My girl’s kicking some asses” This time Betty was the one to answer him

“Ned where are you?” Peter was swinging between some buildings to avoid Rhino’s punches.

“Living room. Everyone can listen to you” Perfect, he didn’t want May hearing one of his fights, she worried too much and probably Tony will have an opinion on the fight or something he would say, Tony always had an opinion. And Morgan will definitely make fun of him for something later. Pepper and Happy just supported him through everything

“Is Dr. Ock somewhere?” Peter asked Karen and Ned in case one can see it and not the other

“Nope. MJ is with Prowler and you take care of Rhino” Peter had Rhino’s armor almost fully covered in webs and he could barely move

“Karen, tell MJ I’m almost done with Rhino”

“Yes, Peter”

Rhino was covered in the webs and the chemical began to interfere with the mobility of his arms and legs. Rhino started to rip some armor off him. When he took his helmet off, the face of a redhead man appeared and Peter told some cops they had to be careful when they captured the man. He started looking for MJ and saw her and Prowler on the rooftop of a building. He moved fast climbing a wall and arrived when Prowler shoot compressed air blasts at MJ. She fell back and Peter shoot some webs at Prowler

“Let me handle him. This is between us” MJ told Peter over the intercom and he took a few steps back. He knew she needed to do it on her own terms but he wasn’t letting her get hurt either

“Look who’s here, Cat. Don’t you want to take part Spider?”

“Nop. I’m here for moral support or just make fun of you” Peter pretended to check his nails and he was just watching his gloved hand. MJ saw that Prowler was distracted and threw the loop at him. Linking his arms to his body, with the restriction, he couldn’t move or throw more things at her

“Sorry you missed the fight, you made it till the end” MJ moved to Prowler and tied more ropes on his body to make sure he wasn’t moving or escaping. Peter surrounded him with a web and moved him to where Rhino was on the ground.

“You ok, MJ?” Peter asked Michelle after he saw some scratches on her right arm

“Yeah, all good. He decided to use his new titanium claws on me but nothing to worry about. Tell Karen to send the files to every precinct in New York and we can go home” While he spoke to Karen, Peter grabbed MJ by her waist and took her to the rooftop they were minutes ago.

“Karen already send all the files. They are going to jail. I feel bad about Miles, he wanted to help his uncle to be a better person and now he is going to jail” Peter looked down at Aaron Davis, immobilized and covered in webs. His suit was damaged where the webs could touch the suit

“He understands. I hope he becomes a better man for all of those who have faith in him, like Miles and Jefferson” MJ grabbed Peter’s mask and moved it up above his mouth to give him a kiss

“Get a room!” Morgan shouted on their ears and Peter and MJ started laughing

“Ned is still in the living room” Peter explained MJ why Morgan was talking to them

“Yeah. We can see and hear everything. Also, there is a very nice shoot of you guys right now on TV with “Power Couple” as the headlight” Peter looked down again and saw a few cameras pointing at them. Thank God MJ didn’t remove his mask completely or his face will be all over the TV and Internet in a few seconds

“Let’s go back, Spider” MJ wrapped her arms around Peter’s neck and he shoot a web to another building to make them swing back to the facilities. Fifteen minutes later they were back on the cabin and everyone was waiting for them at the front door

“We are back and perfectly fine!” Peter assured them all

“MJ is hurt” Morgan pointed at MJ’s arm and May and Pepper moved back to the house quickly

“Let’s go inside” Happy lead them to the living room and turned off the TV that still had images of Rhino and Prowler being arrested. May and Pepper appeared with a first aid kit and MJ took of her wig and mask

“Can you take of that suit so we can clean the cuts?” Pepper spoke to her like a mother speaking to a little hurt kid

“I will need a little bit of help but maybe in the room” The three of them walked to the room on the second floor and Peter decided to go with them. He needed to be sure she was alright. May helped MJ with the zipper on the front of the suit and rolled down the suit from her arm. Pepper cleaned the cuts and then put some patches with a white cream MJ didn’t recognized on the area

“You should change those clothes. We will wait for you on the living room” May told them and she hugged Peter on her way out of the room with Pepper

“Better?” Peter closed the door behind him and walked to MJ

“Yeah. I think the adrenaline was holding back the actual pain but now I can definitely feel it”

“Want some painkillers? I saved a few from the other night” Peter walked to his night table and handed MJ some pills with a glass of water. MJ took them and drank the water

“I’m going to change on the bathroom” MJ grabbed some jeans and a shirt from her bag and walked to the bathroom but didn’t lock the door

Peter searched for his bag and took of his suit to change it for some jeans and a hoddie. When he was done he waited for MJ to go out of the bathroom

“I’m ready” MJ offered her hand to Peter and he took it. They walked together to the living room and Morgan threw herself at MJ with a big hug

“You are the best MJ!” Morgan said and everyone laughed a little. It was a big surprise for all of them to see her fighting someone on a leather suit “Can I show you something on my science lab that Uncle Happy and May gave me?” Peter saw MJ accepting Morgan’s offer and he decided not to go with them. Morgan had found a new role model in MJ and he wanted her to take the best out of it.

MJ sat on the floor next to the tree while everyone chatted and asked Peter about what was going to happen to Rhino and Prowler. Morgan sat on MJ’s legs and started showing her different things

 **“Why are you staring at me?”** Peter didn’t notice but he was, in fact, staring at MJ with Morgan. They just fit together. He loved the image, his best friend and little sis bonding always amazed him, but this time it was different. MJ was now his girlfriend and the feeling of seeing them together was too much to handle

 **“Nothing… you just look really cute right now”** Peter managed to say to MJ and she didn’t answer but blushed and a few second later, she kept talking to Morgan while the kid showed her some things from her little science lab

Now Peter could breathe more lightly. All his family and friends were together and save, no secrets between them and the future looked pretty good for all of them

“Hey Pete. Would you like to go out to watch the ocean with me for a little while?” MJ took him out of his mind

“Better if we see it from here, don’t you think? After all _Baby, it’s cold outside_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know this all ended with many unfinished plots (Betty and Ned's wedding, Peter and Miles meeting for the first time, even Morgan and Miles interacting and more Black Cat/Spider-Man working together) and maybe I will do some second part telling how a few of this stories end up. Keep reading what makes you happy and have a lovely New Year :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @spiderman-homecomeme (tumblr) for organizing this amazing event! Congrats on your graduation, G!
> 
> Find me on tumblr @drunk-onsunlight. Any comment of advise will be very well recieved


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